The Deposition of Haruhi Suzumiya
by Anony84
Summary: Kyon's threat has finally backfired. The Data Integration Thought Entity has decided it's too dangerous to leave its continued existence in his hands, and starts to take action to remove the only bargaining chip he has—Haruhi Suzumiya. With Nagato's life on the line, the SOS Brigade has to find a way to overcome an enemy far greater than anything they've faced before.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I think I'm supposed to mention that I don't own any of these characters, but that seems pretty obvious. Still, if you weren't aware, I don't. This is just for fun.**

**On that note, this is my first fanfiction, so let me know what you think and where I can improve. It was pretty challenging to write; the events force the characters beyond the situations they'd normally deal with, so there are parts where I didn't have much of a reference for how certain characters would act. At any rate, I just hope other fans of the series can enjoy this story.**

**As for placement within the series, this story takes place after Surprise, so you'll definitely need to have read the Haruhi Suzumiya novels if you want it to make any sense. It refers to events that take place long after the end of the anime/movie, so if you haven't read on after that, this contains a lot of spoilers. That also means that whenever Mr. Tanigawa finally gives us a new novel, some aspects of this story may conflict with it. I'd be fine with that if it means getting a new Haruhi novel.**

**I guess that's all the rambling I can think of right now. I hope you enjoy this story.**

* * *

I've always sort of wondered why Haruhi chose the name "The SOS Brigade" for our club. I mean, sure, I know what it stands for, but it takes a pretty serious stretch of the imagination to condense "Spreading Excitement All Over the World with Haruhi Suzumiya" down to "SOS". To be fair, I guess it does have a certain ring to it, and it feels strangely appropriate considering "SOS" is also used as a distress signal. If there's a group out there more deserving of a name synonymous with "We're in trouble", you have my sincere sympathy.

Who am I kidding? She just picked it because she thought it sounded cool.

"Kyon, hurry up! I gotta go to the bathroom!"

Why didn't you go before waking me up? If you can get up early enough to drag me out of bed every morning, surely you have enough time to go to the bathroom first.

Oh well. I lost my train of thought anyway.

For the most part, I was used to my daily walk up the hill by now. Over a year had passed since I started high school, and if nothing else, my legs were probably stronger than they'd ever been. Having said that, when combined with the overwhelming heat and humidity of summer, climbing this hill could still be a daunting task.

My only comfort was the fact that today was July 16th, the last Monday of the semester. Once the final bell rang on Friday, we'd be free for the summer.

Well, I say free, but Haruhi already had our schedules booked.

Don't get me wrong, we had some pretty cool stuff planned. During our New Year's skiing trip, Miss Tsuruya had let it slip that a family friend of hers owned a castle overseas, and that had been a commitment as far as Haruhi was concerned. For the past couple of months, she'd nagged us nonstop to fill out all the paperwork to get our passports, and guess who finally got his in the mail the other day?

"Yours came last, so you have to take whatever seat is left over after the rest of us pick!" she'd said as if it really mattered. Well, maybe it mattered a little bit. A window seat would be cool.

But that wasn't the reason for the unshakeable sense of dread that had been following me for the past few days. Can you blame me? I enjoy slacking off as much as the next guy, but after what happened last year, I was getting worried about what would happen if our trip didn't live up to Haruhi's expectations. Hell, I still get paranoid every time I feel the slightest hint of déjà vu.

Still. Flying overseas on a private jet to spend three nights in a castle? Yes, please. Besides, we'd somehow managed to get everything sorted out a bit early, so for the rest of this week, it'd be smooth sailing. No stressing out about passports or paperwork, just a few games of Shogi and some of Miss Asahina's tea.

Somehow, I managed to make it to the classroom without bumping into Taniguchi, which had to be some kind of miracle. What surprised me more was the fact that the desk behind mine was empty. Haruhi almost always beat me to class. Maybe when she gets here, I should tell her there's a penalty...

Nah. I'm not /that/ crazy.

It wasn't until the bell rang, and there was still no sign of Haruhi, that I started getting concerned. Not that I was worried about her being sick, of course. Haruhi was practically immune to that kind of stuff. But last time she was absent, it was because I'd woken up in a different reality where Haruhi wasn't a student at North High. Are all these supernatural adventures making me paranoid?

I was about to poke the student in front of me and ask if he knew her when the classroom door opened.

"Sorry I'm late."

Thank goodness. Occasions where Haruhi's face brought a sigh of relief were few and far between, but this was one of them. She hurried to her seat, and I proceeded to zone out.

The rest of the day was business as usual. Haruhi rushed out of the room during each break, and since she always came back right as the bell rang, I never got a chance to ask her why she was late. Wait, she couldn't be planning something, could she? We only had a week left until the end of the semester. There wasn't time for one of her schemes, right?

Oh please, tell me she's not up to something.

* * *

As you probably guessed, she was up to something.

My first clue, aside from her slightly-stranger-than-normal behavior, was the fact that all the furniture had been pushed out of the clubroom and into the hallway. I stood at the top of the stairs, debating whether or not she'd kill me if I skipped, before deciding to bite the bullet and knock on the door.

"Come in."

Ah, that angelic voice was enough to soothe any fears I'd had. I opened the door, and found Miss Asahina, Koizumi, and Nagato standing side-by-side. A second later, I saw what they were staring at.

You've got to be kidding me.

Our club room was now equipped with three guitars, a microphone, a keyboard, and a full set of drums. She can't be serious about this.

"It would seem Miss Suzumiya has plans for us today," Koizumi said. "I don't suppose you have any idea what she has in store?"

Yeah, I know alright. I'd kind of been hoping Haruhi had forgotten, but I should have known better. After last year's culture festival, when Haruhi and Nagato had filled in for a couple of members of a rock band, she'd seemed upset that she hadn't had more time to practice. Somehow, that had led to her deciding to form a band of our own and perform next––er, this year. But the culture festival was still months away. Why start practicing now?

"Perhaps she feels as though we need to pass the time until our vacation," he said, strolling over to the drums. "She's been so obsessed with planning our trip, it must feel strange to have nothing left to keep her busy during these last five days."

Good for her, but I'd like to take it easy, if you don't mind. Besides, Haruhi and Nagato aside, can any of us even play any instruments? I glanced over at Miss Asahina, who hadn't bothered to change into her maid outfit. "Can you play any of these?"

She shook her head, a concerned look already on her face. I looked to Koizumi, who just shrugged. "Maybe that's why she wants to get started so early. It'll give us a chance to learn."

"That's exactly right, Koizumi! Three hundred points!"

Haruhi entered in her typical, noisy fashion. Wait, he got three hundred points for that? These points must be suffering from some serious inflation.

With a look of determination that would make Gengis Khan stop in his tracks, Haruhi charged forward and placed several folders on the keyboard. "I stopped by the music club and got us some sheet music to get started! It's really easy stuff, so it should be fine, even for you, Kyon."

What about the fact that I can't play any of these instruments?

Ignoring me, she went on. "Get ready, because the SOS Brigade is going to steal the show at this year's culture festival!"

Yep, I called it. And Haruhi, aren't you forgetting something? We shot a trailer for The Revenge of Yuki Nagato just a few months ago. Don't tell me you're already bored with the idea of filming a sequel? Wait, scratch that. If I say anything, she'll just end up making us work on both projects simultaneously.

I have a feeling it's going to be a long week.

* * *

Over the next two hours, it became clear that playing a musical instrument is a lot harder than Haruhi makes it look.

Or maybe I just don't have any talent. Not that I ever wanted to be in a band in the first place. Haruhi and Nagato reprised their roles on rhythm and lead guitar, respectively, with Haruhi covering vocals again. Koizumi actually has a pretty decent sense of rhythm, so he wound up playing the drums, and since the keyboard was the only instrument left that didn't hurt Miss Asahina's fingers, I found myself stuck playing the bass guitar.

Well, maybe "playing" is a bit generous; I was more or less fumbling my way through a confusing mess of notes that I barely knew how to read. Maybe Haruhi could just pick up an instrument and figure it out on her own, but I couldn't. How the hell was I supposed to keep up with everyone else? And that's not even mentioning the fact that I'd only heard the song we were trying to play once or twice. Haruhi even gave Miss Asahina a watered-down keyboard part so she could follow along. It's not fair!

"Kyon, you need to concentrate! How are we supposed to make any progress if you keep dropping out?"

I can't drop out if I'm never "in" in the first place. You can't expect everyone to be able to pick things up as quickly as you.

"Koizumi's doing just fine, though."

That's because drums don't involve having to remember a bunch of different notes. And Koizumi, you're not exactly helping my case, you know.

"Don't try to change the subject," she said, crossing her arms. "You're going to have to practice at least five hours every night if you want to get caught up in time for the culture festival."

Yeah, no. Besides, I don't think the music club would be too happy with us if we took these instruments home. "Cut me some slack. This is my first time picking up a guitar, let alone playing one. I can't just automatically know how to play it like you can."

Haruhi shrugged. "Oh well. I guess it can't be helped. Let's take it from the top. Just try to keep up as much as possible. Oh, and Mikuru, turn the keyboard up. I can hardly hear you."

Miss Asahina gave the volume knob a tentative click, but Haruhi wasn't having it. She reached over and cranked it up several more notches, causing Miss Asahina to start to panic. Poor thing, she was probably terrified of being put on the spot like that.

Haruhi nodded to Koizumi, and after a few clicks of his drumsticks, we went back to what loosely fit the definition of "rehearsing".

I eventually started getting the hang of it, if only because I'd been trying to play the same notes for hours at this point, but my fingertips were getting sore, making it hard to focus on the music. I was actually managing to keep up for once, though, so I wasn't about to stop now. We still sounded like garbage, but at least we were keeping our heads above the water, so to speak. Maybe I could pull this off after all.

Something sounded off, though, and it took me a second to figure out what it was. Nagato had stopped playing, leaving us without a lead guitar, and was just staring blankly at the wall with her hands still on her instrument. Haruhi stopped a second later, followed by the rest of us.

"Hey, Yuki, what's up? Why'd you stop playing?"

Why can't she ever use that calm, concerned tone with me?

Nagato didn't answer, nor did she move a muscle. From the way she was staring off into space, you'd think she'd seen a ghost or something. Koizumi wasn't even trying to fake a smile anymore, which was almost as eerie if you ask me.

"Hello? Earth to Yuki. Are you okay?" Haruhi waved her hand in front of Nagato's face, and she finally seemed to snap back to reality.

"My fingers," she said, looking down at her reddened fingertips.

Haruhi gave her a sympathetic smile. "I guess we have been at it for a while. Alright, let's call it a day!" She put her guitar back on its stand and picked up her bag. "We'll pick up where we left off tomorrow."

That was weird. I'd seen Nagato grip a knife by the blade, take half a dozen metal spears through the chest, and stop a not-a-laser with her bare hand, and not once had she complained about pain. That couldn't be what was bothering her.

"I have to say, this does get quite tiring after a while," Koizumi said, now back to his usual smiling self. "Now that I know how difficult it is, I'm even more impressed that the two of you were able to pull it off with so little time to prepare."

A grin spread across Haruhi's face. "Naturally! I know we could have been thirty times better if we'd had more time, but the past is the past. And the SOS Brigade only looks at the future!" She unplugged the amplifier from the wall, not even bothering to turn it off first. "We may have been allies last time, but when we take the stage this year, ENOZ will be our rival."

I'd hate to imagine what sort of apocalyptic horror might be unleashed if we came in second. Wait, since when is it even a competition? /You/ helped ENOZ become popular, so it'll be your fault if their fans cheer louder than ours. Not that we even have any fans to begin with.

With fresh blisters forming on our hands, we went our separate ways for the night. At least, that's what we needed Haruhi to believe. Once I was sure she was out of earshot, I took out my phone and started dialing Nagato's number.

Before I could finish, I got a call from Koizumi. "Uh, hey, what's up? I was actually just about to call Nagato."

"I'm with her now, actually. I take it you also noticed her unusual behavior?"

How could I not? It wasn't like Nagato to get distracted.

"That's true. I'm afraid our situation has just taken a turn for the worst. It seems Miss Suzumiya may be in danger, and Miss Nagato could become a target as well."

Okay, you have my attention. "Where are you?"

"Meet us by the front gate. Try not to do anything that would suggest something's wrong, though. I'm going to give Miss Suzumiya a call and suggest a brigade sleepover at Miss Nagato's apartment, so keep that in mind. It'll give us a chance to keep a closer eye on Miss Suzumiya overnight."

Off the top of my head, I can think of several dozen things I'd rather be doing than spending even more time with Haruhi. And it's hard to imagine her being in any real danger, but if Nagato might be in trouble, I guess I'll come.

I could almost hear him smile. "See you soon."

The moment we hung up, I hurried back to the school as fast as I could without actually running. If I were to make a list of things that could actually pose a threat to Nagato, it'd be pretty short. There was the Data Integration Thought Entity, and the Heavenly Canopy Dominion, and I suppose if Miss Asahina's people had some sort of super-advanced weapon, they might be a threat, too. I doubted Miss Asahina's people would want to hurt Nagato, and I still had the Data Integration Thought Entity in check thanks to Haruhi's awesome powers. That only left one possibility. Dammit, if anything happened to either one of them, I'd personally hunt down whoever was responsible and make them pay!

"Late! Penalty!"

I take it back. You can have Haruhi, just leave Nagato out of it.

The others had already gathered by the time I spotted them. How the hell had Haruhi beaten me? Did she run? Knowing her, she probably didn't want me to have the satisfaction of not being last for once.

She seemed excited, though. "This was a great idea, Koizumi! An SOS Brigade sleepover is just what we need to get pumped for the trip!" She swung an arm around Miss Asahina and leaned in close. "I have just the thing for you to wear to bed, Mikuru."

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Why don't you two go gather your things?" Koizumi said. "We'll go do the same, and we can all meet back at Miss Nagato's apartment."

Excuse me, Koizumi, but I hope you don't think I'm letting you in my house. And what happened to Haruhi being in danger? You're just going to let her wander off alone with Miss Asahina? Time traveler or not, she's not exactly what I'd call a bodyguard.

"That sounds good! You guys better hurry. If we beat you there, you'll pay for making us wait outside."

With that, Haruhi dashed off, dragging a stumbling Miss Asahina behind her. When I turned back to Koizumi and Nagato, their faces had become serious. Well, Koizumi's anyway.

"Let's go. I'll explain on the way."

We set off toward my house, and it wasn't long before Haruhi and Miss Asahina were completely out of sight. "Alright," I said, looking over at Koizumi, "start talking."

"Actually, I think our situation would be best explained by Miss Nagato."

I looked down at Nagato, but she didn't say anything. I was used to her responding to my questions with silence, but they were always questions that didn't really need to be asked. This one was different. Even after she opened her mouth, she wasn't quite ready to speak yet. Don't tell me Kuyoh's trying to disable her again?

Finally, she spoke. "The Data Integration Thought Entity has reached a majority consensus. Observation of Haruhi Suzumiya's abilities in their natural state is preferred. However, allowing the current situation to escalate further would be dangerous. It has been decided that the benefits of allowing Haruhi Suzumiya to remain in possession of her power no longer outweigh the associated risks."

Considering how long it took you to prepare that statement, I was sort of hoping it would make more sense. Think you could simplify it a bit?

Another long pause. Then, "The risk that you will use Haruhi Suzumiya's powers to erase the Data Integration Thought Entity from existence is unacceptably high. Her powers are to be transferred, and I am to be terminated."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: If you're reading this, I hope you enjoyed chapter one. I'm still working on getting this just right, but I figure it's better to release it into the world than to keep nitpicking for days. That said, I'd appreciate any feedback regarding characters, pacing, inconsistencies, etc. Other than that, I hope you enjoy chapter two. Chapter three should be ready relatively soon.**

* * *

"Her powers are to be transferred, and I am to be terminated."

Whoa, hold on. Terminated? Are you saying they want to get rid of you like the did with Asakura?

It took her a second to realize I'd stopped walking. She eventually stopped, too, and slowly turned to look at me. "A similar process. The chances of another malfunction are not known. However—"

"I don't care about any of that!" I snapped. If the Data Integration Thought Entity has a problem with my threat, it can talk to me directly. Why would it jump straight to getting rid of Nagato? "We still have time, don't we? Let's just tell Haruhi everything. If we explain what's going on, we can have her remake the world without the Data Whatever."

Koizumi motioned for us to continue walking. "If it were that easy, don't you think we would have already done so? There's still the issue of what Miss Suzumiya might do once she finds out about her abilities."

Koizumi, you're a decent guy, but you don't seem to understand Haruhi at all. If we told her one of her brigade members was in danger, she'd want to do everything in her power to help them out.

"That's not what I meant," he said. "Try to put yourself in her shoes. If one of your brigade members told you that aliens and espers and the like really exist, what would your first thought be?"

I didn't need to guess. I'd tried it once before, and it hadn't gone over well. But this time, we could prove it. Miss Asahina can take her back in time. And you and Nagato can show off your powers, too. There's no way she could deny it if she saw it first-hand.

Koizumi seemed surprised. "Hasn't she already done that, though? For instance, that night when the two of you were trapped in closed space together. Doesn't she believe that was all just a dream?"

Well, yeah, but...

"Even if we showed her undeniable evidence that such phenomenon are real, there's a good chance she'd just assume she's dreaming again. If that were to happen, and she no longer believed that this world was real, I don't want to imagine what might happen to us."

I didn't have anything to say to that. Haruhi wouldn't intentionally do anything to hurt us, but if she believed this was all a dream, things could get out of hand fast. "Shouldn't you be with her, then, Nagato? What if they send someone to attack her right now? I don't think Miss Asahina would be able to stop a humanoid interface."

"I am monitoring the situation. I will intervene if necessary."

Intervene? How? I'd seen Nagato use some sort of teleportation ability before, during the inter-club relay, but Haruhi had still out-performed her. Could she really travel halfway across town fast enough to protect them?

We arrived at my house a few minutes later. Luckily, I was able to pass the sleepover off as an overnight study session, and since it was a school night, there was no way my sister could talk her way into tagging along. If everything Nagato was saying was true, I didn't want to get my family dragged into it.

Come to think of it, I remember asking her how many humanoid interfaces there were, and she'd just said "A lot." Now I wish she'd been more specific. It was safe to assume we were being watched; the question was, by one interface, or dozens?

That was a scary thought.

By the time I'd gathered up my things and headed back outside, a familiar black taxi had pulled up outside my house. I crammed into the back seat with Nagato and Koizumi. Our driver was, of course, Mr. Arakawa, and he'd brought Koizumi some overnight essentials to save us some time.

I finally thought to ask. "Hey, Nagato. You've been sort of slow to respond ever since we left school. Is there a reason why?"

Her eyes gradually shifted over to look at me. "I am currently engaged in a conflict with my superiors. Most of my processing power has been devoted to preventing a behavioral override."

My eyes went wide. A conflict with your superiors? Behavioral override? What are you saying, Nagato? Are you telling me they've been trying to make _you_ take Haruhi's powers away?

Another pause. "...I refused."

She just stared at me after that, but the intensity of the stare spoke volumes of how much effort it was taking for her to stay in control of her own actions. This whole time, she'd been fighting back against the Data Integration Thought Entity, _and_ keeping an eye on Haruhi and Miss Asahina. And on top of that, I'd been distracting her with a bunch of questions. I'm sorry, Nagato. I'll let you focus on what you have to do.

I'd have been lying if I said I didn't feel a strange sense of pride in her, though. The Nagato from a year ago would have probably requested that the Data Integration Thought Entity rethink its position, and nothing more. She'd never have flat-out disobeyed an order. It's a shame Kimidori and the others probably weren't going to follow her lead.

"Which is why I suggested this sleepover," Koizumi said. "It'll allow us to keep an eye on Miss Suzumiya. Miss Nagato, too. If anything happens, we'll be close by."

Sorry, Koizumi, but there's no silver lining to being stuck spending the night with you.

* * *

Thanks to Mr. Arakawa, we arrived at Nagato's apartment well before Haruhi and Miss Asahina. I wonder, what sort of outfit is Haruhi forcing her to try on right now? Nagato, if you need help "monitoring the situation," let me know.

"Are you sure it's safe here?" I asked. "It seems like if they wanted to find you, this would be the first place they'd look."

"It is fine."

An immediate response.

"The consensus within the Data Integration Thought Entity is that Haruhi Suzumiya's powers must be transferred to a humanoid interface. I was chosen because I am close to her." Her head lowered slightly. "Because I refused, a new debate has begun to determine the best course of action. There are no signs of a resolution in the immediate future."

Hey, I think I understood that.

"Sit. I will prepare dinner."

Now that she mentioned it, I realized I was getting pretty hungry. I'd have offered to help, but I'd probably just get in her way. Judging from what she'd said, and how quickly she'd said it, it looked like the higher-ups had given up on controlling her for now.

'Atta girl, Nagato.

I sat down at the kotatsu, and to my dismay, Koizumi took the spot to my right. I could still clearly remember the image of the human version of Nagato sitting there back in December, when I'd had that meal with her and Asakura.

A chill ran down my spine. Asakura. She'd been brought back once before, not too long ago. What if the radical faction decided to revive her to stop Nagato? I really don't want to get stabbed again.

"I can't say I blame you. To be honest, I'm actually quite terrified as well. The Data Integration Thought Entity may think it's safe to separate Miss Suzumiya from her powers, but many of us espers still believe she's the god of this world. If possible, we'd like to prevent her from being dethroned."

I still don't think she's a god. There's nothing godlike about the way that girl acts. And please, don't let her hear you say the word "throne". You'll give her ideas.

He laughed. "You may be right. Either way, it would be very bad for us if she were to lose her powers. Especially for Miss Nagato."

That felt like a hit below the belt. If I'd just left Nagato's superiors alone, they might have decided to give her a pass, but my threat had ruined any chances of that. I was ultimately responsible for the situation we were in now.

His expression softened a little. "I'm sure she appreciated it, though."

Your sympathy isn't worth anything to me, Koizumi. But if you'd like, you can tell Miss Asahina that I need some cheering up.

Nagato's phone rang shortly after that. I could hear Haruhi ask her to open the gate, and a few minutes later, they came barging through the door.

"Wow, you guys got here quick. I hope you at least brought a change of clothes."

What are you looking at _me_ for?

The two of them had changed out of their school uniforms, but I was a bit disappointed to see that they weren't wearing anything particularly interesting. Haruhi had made it sound like she had some big plans back at the school. I wonder if she actually listened to Miss Asahina's complaints for once.

After putting their bags in the corner, the two of them headed into the kitchen to help Nagato with the food. Ordinarily, I'd have been thrilled at the thought of three beautiful girls cooking dinner for me, but the weight of the situation was inescapable.

As if he'd read my mind, Koizumi's smile faded. "In all seriousness, I don't think we'll be able to defend ourselves when the other TFEIs get around to making their move. We'd better come up with a plan before that happens."

Although I hated to admit it, he was right. I could only thing of two ways out of this mess, and they both sucked.

One, we somehow convince the Data Integration Thought Entity to just give up and leave both Nagato and Haruhi alone. Aside from the obvious question of "How?", that plan also left us with the dilemma of never knowing if or when it would change its mind. After Nagato's betrayal, I had a feeling it wouldn't be keeping her in the loop anymore.

The other option was to face it head-on, which would pretty much require that we tell Haruhi about her powers. Nagato had mentioned some sort of memory-wiping ability before; there was a chance we could explain everything to Haruhi, have her erase the Data Integration Thought Entity from existence, and then make her forget the whole thing ever happened.

"That's definitely better than letting her remain aware of her powers, but it still carries the risk that she'll assume she's dreaming once she learns the truth. She may want to carry out all of her deepest desires, completely unaware of the consequences. Or worse, this world may actually cease to be real."

I didn't want to imagine what Haruhi's deepest desires might be. There'd be supernatural phenomenon popping up all over the place.

Well, more than usual, anyway.

"I know it's a bad idea," I said, "but it's the best bad idea we've got. It's better than letting delete Nagato and turn Haruhi normal."

Koizumi rested his chin on his hand. "You'd be willing to gamble the fate of the Universe in order to protect Miss Nagato? You'd better be careful, or a certain someone might get jealous."

Shut up, Koizumi.

* * *

Despite the danger we were all in, the rest of the evening passed with relative normalcy. We played some video games, took turns telling ghost stories, and discussed what songs we should perform at the culture festival. I tried to act like nothing was bothering me, but Haruhi kept giving me weird looks. Maybe I should ask Koizumi for fake smiling lessons.

Miss Asahina was the first to fall asleep. The original plan was that the girls would sleep in Nagato's room, and Koizumi and I would stay in the living room, but after taking one look at Miss Asahina sleeping peacefully next to the kotatsu, Haruhi decided it'd be easier if they slept there instead.

"So where are we supposed to sleep?"

"You can just take that empty room," she said, pointing to the door. "That's okay, right, Yuki?"

No! That was the room I'd shared with Miss Asahina when we traveled back to Tanabata, four years ago. I don't want to tarnish my memories of this room by spending a night in it with Koizumi!

Of course, I couldn't tell her that. In the end, I begrudgingly rolled out my sleeping bag next to the wall, putting as much space between the two of us as possible. Haruhi had commandeered the spare futons for them to use, even though Nagato had one of her own, and Miss Asahina was already asleep on the kotatsu mat. Was she using them both for herself?

"Oh, you're going to sleep next to the balcony?"

I paused and looked over at the wall. The first time I'd been in this room, my mind had been on other things, so I hadn't really paid attention to the room itself, but he was right. There was a sliding door that led to the balcony, and while it wasn't made of glass like the one in the living room, its translucent paper let the city lights shine through a bit. Not that I need to sleep with a night light or anything, but it was actually kind of nice.

"Actually, we do need to discuss our sleeping arrangements."

We're fine where we are, thank you very much!

"I was referring to when we're going to sleep, not where. If we take shifts, we'll be able to keep an eye on Miss Suzumiya and Miss Nagato throughout the night without interruption."

I really didn't like the idea of only getting half a night's worth of sleep, but he was right. Nagato would probably be keeping her eyes peeled as well, but I'd feel better if she wasn't the only one awake.

"Fine by me. Who's going first?"

He stood. "I don't mind taking the first shift if you'd like to get some sleep. Ninety-minute cycles would be best."

That seems a little short, but I guess it'd be hard to stay awake for hours at a time. "Just wake me up if you start dozing off," I said, climbing into my sleeping bag.

"Duly noted. If you need me, I'll either be in here or on the balcony."

With silent footsteps that made Shamisen seem clumsy, Koizumi walked over to the door and stepped outside. That balcony made me anxious. If Nagato and Asakura both lived in this building, who knew how many other humanoid interfaces were lurking in the other apartments? One of them could appear on the balcony, blast through the door, and...

* * *

With those thoughts on my mind, I didn't get much out of my ninety minutes of sleep.

I'd finally dozed off toward the end, but no more than five minutes could have passed before I felt someone shaking me.

"Hey, it's time for your shift."

Huh? Sis, why is your voice so deep?

I cracked an eye open, and upon seeing Koizumi's face about a foot away from my own, I remembered where I was. He had to put a hand over my mouth to keep me quiet.

"Shh. The others are still asleep," he said. "It's your turn to keep watch. I'd really like to get some shuteye, if you don't mind."

Right. My head was still pretty foggy, but I was coherent enough to force myself to my feet. Waking up after an hour and a half of sleep was pretty miserable. Using the light from the balcony as a guide, I shuffled off to the bathroom.

After doing my business (and spending a few seconds watching the sleeping forms of Haruhi and Miss Asahina), I made my way back to the spare room. It was next to impossible to see, but by some miracle, I managed to avoid bumping into anything.

It took me a few seconds for my thoughts to catch up with me. It was dark. Really dark. I couldn't even seen my hand in front of my face. With a growing sense of dread, I looked up at the balcony door.

It was like someone had snuffed out every light in the city. Not even the stars were shining, and if it weren't for my sense of direction, I wouldn't have known I was looking at a door at all.

"Koizumi. Wake up."

He rolled over. "I hadn't even fallen asleep yet. Is something—"

I guess he realized it, too. When I slid the balcony door open, my fears were realized.

The city skyline had been replaced with solid concrete.

"Haruhi!"

I bolted for the glass door that led to the living room, and at the same time, Koizumi came running through the other door. As he turned on the lights, I saw a familiar figure standing over our brigade leader.

Emiri Kimidori. The student council president's secretary, a waitress at our favorite cafe, and a humanoid interface, presumably here to take Haruhi's powers.

"Stop!"

I jerked the sliding glass door open and stepped inside. Nagato was already up, standing across the kotatsu from Kimidori. I realized how vulnerable I was, with the enemy between myself and the others.

She didn't seem hostile, though. In fact, the look she gave me could only be described as remorseful. She turned back to Nagato. "You're malfunctioning. Please, don't put the lives of your friends at risk by resisting. I don't want to have to hurt anyone."

"You will leave this place at once."

The tension between the two of them was borderline tangible.

I took the chance to run over to Nagato and Koizumi's side of the room. I'd seen Kimidori in action once before, and she was just as frighteningly powerful as every other interface I'd encountered. I'll just let the two of you handle this one, okay?

"...nh... Huh? What's going on, you guys?"

Crap! Haruhi was sitting up, rubbing an eye and staring at us. "Is that... the student council secretary? What the heck is going on here?"

Okay, calm down. Maybe this is a good thing. Surely they won't start a fight if Haruhi's watching, right? Nagato?

In the next instant, Nagato had moved across the room. She was gripping Kimidori's wrist, just inches away from Haruhi's face. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Koizumi preparing an orb of energy in his palm. You can do that here? I thought that was reserved for closed space. I guess these closed-off 'data space' things count, too.

Haruhi jumped, but she didn't try to run away. She looked more shocked than anything. "Yuki? How did you..."

Koizumi grabbed my shoulder. "This is bad. We need to get her out of here. I'm only at about a tenth of my full power, but I should be able to help. I need you to take the two of them someplace safe."

Right, time to go. Sorry, Haruhi, but the explanations are going to have to wait.

"Wha—"

I grabbed her by the arm, then reached for Miss Asahina and pulled her to her feet.

"Uaah! That hurts!"

She stumbled and clung to me, still half asleep. On a completely unrelated note, they say adrenaline helps you form more vivid memories. I really hope that's true.

The front door had been replaced by a solid wall, but I'd expected that. Without an actual escape route, our only option was to barricade ourselves in Nagato's room.

"Hey, Kyon, hold on! What are you doing?"

I shut the door behind us and locked it, then turned to face Haruhi and a terrified Miss Asahina.

"Did you see that? Koizumi had some kind of ball of light in his hand! You have about three seconds to explain what's going on before I beat it out of you."

I would if you'd just shut up! "Listen. Aliens and time travelers and all that stuff? They're real, okay? And right now, Nagato––"

Before I could finish, the door was blasted off its hinges, and Koizumi came crashing into the room. Nagato stepped back into the doorway, using some sort of forcefield to hold off a barrage of Kimidori's attacks.

Haruhi ran to him. "Koizumi! Are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm fine," he said, struggling to his feet. "But it doesn't look good. Miss Kimidori's surprisingly powerful."

Nagato took another step back, bringing her into the room with us. Dammit! "Haruhi, listen to me." I said, gripping her shoulders. "You need to get us out of here."

"What are you talking about?" she asked. The fear in her voice was becoming more apparent, and her eyes were glued to Nagato.

"There's no time to explain everything! If you don't get us out of here right now, we're going to be in deep trouble!"

"What the heck am I supposed to do?" she snapped. "Why me? I can't get us out of here any more than you can!"

Calm down, Haruhi. You can, you just have to—

Koizumi leapt forward, grabbing me by the collar. "Miss Nagato, come on! Kyon, hang on to the girls!"

Without thinking, I did as he said. Nagato dropped the forcefield and dove for Koizumi's outstretched hand. I held on to Haruhi and Miss Asahina for dear life, watching as a series of metal spikes shot into the room and embedded themselves in the wall.

I'd expected Koizumi to have some sort of plan, but we ended up crashing to the ground in a pile. I scrambled to my feet, ready to start pleading for our lives, but by the time I did, Kimidori was gone.

Actually, everything had gone quiet.

After a few seconds, Haruhi broke the silence. "Okay, someone needs to tell me what's going on, right now. You guys are seriously freaking me out!"

She was a mix of angry and afraid. Now I get it. "And it's really frustrating?" I asked.

She seemed caught off-guard. "Well, of course."

Aha. Koizumi, you're a genius. The eerie silence and dull atmosphere suddenly made sense.

We were in closed space.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This was a very difficult chapter to write, for various reasons. Some of these scenes aren't exactly my forte, so please, let me know if something seems off. I've gotten some useful feedback so far, and I really appreciate it.**

**Onward to chapter three. I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

We were in closed space.

I'd just realized that fact when something shifted behind me. I glanced back and saw Haruhi slumped over in Miss Asahina's arms.

"I'm sorry. I thought... It might be best if she's asleep for now. Just in case she starts tampering with reality again."

Good idea. If we're lucky, she might think the whole thing was just a dream when she wakes up. And to be honest, I'm not ready to explain everything to her just yet.

As the others got to their feet, I instinctively checked the window. Nothing but solid brick. "So she just happened to create a closed space right where we needed it?"

"Limited spatial rendering," Nagato said.

Uh huh. And that would mean...?

"Emiri Kimidori created a data jurisdiction to prevent us from escaping. Because the dimensional boundaries were limited when Haruhi Suzumiya's frustration created this space, this was the only place it could appear."

So this is a closed space inside of a data jurisdiction, then? What happens when Kimidori shuts down her alternate version of your apartment?

"This space exists independently. However, it will not remain stable for long."

That's probably her way of saying we should hurry up and do whatever it is we're going to do.

After hoisting Haruhi up onto my back, I followed the others into the living room. The balcony was still blocked off by a brick wall, and the front door was still missing. Great. What's to stop Kimidori from just waiting around until this closed space collapses?

Nagato stepped out onto the balcony and placed a hand on the wall. "I can remove the spatial restrictions. It will take some time."

Koizumi followed her onto the balcony. "Oh, really? That's a relief."

Says the guy who's not lugging a girl around on his back. Just how far am I going to have to carry her?

He shrugged. "Under normal circumstances, intentionally expanding a closed space would go against everything I've learned so far. But if we can restore this one to a normal size, we can exit far away from Miss Nagato's apartment. One thing is bothering me, though." He turned to look at Nagato. "Normally, it'd be extremely difficult to bring this many people with me into closed space, but this time, it was surprisingly easy. Do you have any idea why that might be?"

"A narrow inter-dimensional gap. Emiri Kimidori's data jurisdiction lies slightly closer to this space than the dimension you normally travel from. Therefore, travel between the two takes less effort."

Wait, does that mean Kimidori––

"Our ability to travel between dimensions is limited. This gap is too great for an interface such as myself or Emiri Kimidori to cross. In these situations, only small amounts of data can be transmitted."

Huh. I didn't really get all that, but it didn't seem like we were in any danger of Kimidori suddenly appearing and attacking us again. That was a relief, at least. Although I had to wonder, did that "small amount of data" mean Kimidori could send messages to computers here, like Nagato had done for me?

"It is done."

As I looked up, the brick wall cracked and dissolved into light, not unlike what had happened to Asakura. The city skyline returned, shrouded in a familiar dreary gray.

"Impressive," Koizumi said. "It's about one kilometer in diameter now. That's still small, but it should be enough to get us a safe distance away from this apartment."

"Um, but, w-what happens if Miss Kimidori tracks us down again?"

We all went quiet. Miss Asahina was right. It wouldn't take long for them to find us, and then we'd be right back where we started. A lot of good that would do. "If we tell Haruhi everything, and she _doesn't_ end up turning the world into a dream, we could have her get rid of the Data Integration Thought Entity for good."

I could see a hint of sadness in Nagato's expression when I said that, but she didn't say anything. Now that I think about it, I've never actually asked her how she feels about the thought entity or the other interfaces. Ever since the incident last December, I'd just assumed she wanted to live in a world without them, but they're technically the only family she has. Could she actually feel some attachment to them?

"It looks like the front door's back as well," Koizumi said. "Regardless of what we decide to do, we're wasting time by staying here. Let's get moving. We can figure things out on the way."

* * *

By the time we'd made it out of the building and started walking down the empty street, Haruhi was really starting to weigh me down. I'll be the first to admit, she's pretty tolerable when she's unconscious, and I couldn't ignore the silky feel of her pajamas, but even pretty girls start to get heavy after a while.

"Oh? Would you like me to carry her for a bit?"

No thanks, Koizumi. "How far did you say it was to the other side?"

He looked up at the sky. "It's about a kilometer in diameter, and we started out at the very edge. That means we can get a maximum of one kilometer away from Miss Nagato's apartment before we go back to the normal world." He crossed his arms. "However... This closed space isn't particularly stable, and we'll be lucky if it doesn't collapse before then."

"Alright, so how long do you think we have?"

"It's hard to say. Worst case scenario, we should have at least ten more minutes before the whole thing falls apart."

That isn't very long.

"Which is why we need to come up with a plan before that happens."

We already said that. What if... "Hold on. Nagato, do you think you could take Haruhi's powers like you did before? If you're in control, we wouldn't have to worry about what she might accidentally do."

She didn't reply right away, and with her hair hiding her face, I couldn't really read her expression. "...It is possible. But it is not something I wish to experience a second time."

Oh, right. I guess even Nagato has painful memories she doesn't want brought up. It might have been insensitive to ask her to reenact her 'defective' behavior, but given the circumstances... No. I told myself I'd stop relying on Nagato to fix everything. If it's possible to do this without pushing everything on her, then we owe it to her to at least try. "What about you, Miss Asahina? You've been pretty quiet. Do you think you could use your TPDD to help us out?"

"It's possible, but I can't just use it whenever I want. I have to get permission, and it can't communicate from inside this... closed... space?"

Oh, that's right. As far as I knew, this was her first time inside closed space. Nagato's, too, though she had enough experience with alternate dimensions that it probably didn't faze her. If her TPDD couldn't communicate in here, we might be better off waking Haruhi up and proceeding with Operation Bad Idea.

Koizumi stopped, nearly causing me to bump into him. "Hey, what's up? Is something wrong?"

He stared off to the left, then resumed walking at a faster pace. "Come on. We need to get indoors."

Easy for you to say. I ran after him as best I could without dropping Haruhi. "What's going on?"

My answer came in the form of a thunderous crash in the distance. A plume of smoke rose up into the sky, and I could vaguely make out a hint of a blue glow between a couple of buildings. Crap! Now that this was just a normal closed space, I guess I should have expected celestials to show up. But why are we running? If it's just one, can't you handle it, Koizumi?

"It's not that easy," he said. "We're not running from the celestial. Other espers are about to converge on this location. Do you remember what happens when the celestial is destroyed?"

Oh. _Oh._ The urgency of the situation was starting to hit me. It had only taken a matter of seconds for them to defeat the blue giant when Koizumi first showed me closed space, so we probably didn't have long before we'd be forced back into the regular world. "Can't you tell them to wait? We do have precious cargo here."

Another crash, this time closer than before. "I'm sorry to say it, but ever since Miss Nagato showed us that the world can survive without Haruhi at the wheel, there are some within the Organization who think the best option would be to eliminate her and save ourselves a lot of trouble. It's gotten especially heated now that the TFEIs are after her powers. I'd rather not give them the opportunity to do anything rash."

Oh great, so they might be willing to kill Haruhi to keep her powers out of the wrong hands? If there's anyone left who's still on our side, now would be a really good time to come help us out.

Koizumi led us into an alley, where we'd be harder to spot. Miss Asahina yelped and clung to me as another boom echoed through the closed space, but I didn't really have time to enjoy it.

Koizumi looked off into the distance again before turning back to me. "If we tell her, can you make her believe us?"

Don't you worry about that. I've been saving my trump card for just such an occasion.

A bright red crack tore through the sky, and a second later, the sounds of the world returned. It was still the middle of the night, and without the dim glow of closed space to light the alley, it was pitch black.

"We're out of time!" Koizumi said. "Wake her up!"

"Okay, I—... W-What?! I just got authorization—no, a command—to use my TPDD! But why do we have to..."

That's even better! If you got instructions from the future, that means they're going to bail us out, right? "Whatever it is, hurry up and do it!"

Without so much as a warning to close my eyes, I felt the increasingly familiar sensation of being pulled through time.

* * *

If you've never experienced time travel first-hand, let me tell you, it's not exactly pleasant. According to Miss Asahina, the nauseous feeling associated with it is called timesickness. It's enough to make any man want to vomit, but luckily, that feeling passes pretty fast once you arrive.

When I opened my eyes, I was looking down at the edge of a pier. It was still dark, but I could see water splashing up against the concrete a few feet below. Where are we?

Nagato started talking in fast-motion again, and a faintly glowing wall appeared a few feet away. It stretched out into the water, and rose up to form a giant dome over...

We were on the remote island, the one we'd visited last summer. The dome gave off enough light for me to make out the mansion at the top of the hill, but none of its lights were on. Why would Miss Asahina's superiors tell us to come here?

"I don't really know," she said. "I just got an order to come to this island, so I did. I'm sorry... I wish I knew more."

Oh Miss Asahina, you don't have anything to apologize for. I'm sure you're just as much a victim in all this as the rest of us! But if the older Miss Asahina is behind this detour, I wonder if she's planning on making an appearance. It seems like every time I see her, I trust her a little less.

Koizumi was the first one to ask the obvious question. "Are we allowed to know what time we've traveled to, or is that classified?"

"We haven't actually traveled in time, just space. It's still the same night it was when we left."

Whoa, whoa, wait. You can do that?

Actually, yeah. Every time I've traveled back in time with Miss Asahina, we've ended up in a completely different location. When we went back to the Tanabata of four years ago, we'd left from the school and appeared on a park bench. And last year, when I traveled back to December 18th with the older Miss Asahina, we'd gone from Nagato's apartment to a back alley near the school. I should have realized she could probably travel one second into the past, and appear wherever she wanted. If that's the case, maybe she's more capable of protecting Haruhi than I thought.

"Well, I still need permission to use it," she said. "I can't actually activate it on my own."

I looked up at the glowing dome. "Is this some kind of barrier, Nagato?"

"Data jurisdiction," she said. "An imperfect solution. It will prevent us from being easily detected, but it will not stop other interfaces from eventually gaining access."

"Then we'd better get moving," Koizumi said. "If Miss Asahina got orders to bring us here, we'll have to assume there's a reason for it."

Great. Guess who's going to have to carry Haruhi up this damn hill?

* * *

Inside, the mansion was uncomfortably stuffy. Since no one was technically supposed to be here, the air conditioning hadn't been running, making it even warmer than it was outside. Thankfully, Nagato was in control of this space; she was able to cool the mansion and turn on the lights for us. Personally, I just wanted to get Haruhi off my back.

After locking the door—I'm not sure why, but it felt wrong not to—we headed to the lounge, and I was finally able to lay Haruhi down on the couch. I took a moment to rub my shoulders. She was going to owe me big after this was all over.

For the next few moments, we all stood there in silence. Everyone knew what was going to have to happen, but no one wanted to be the one to talk to her. Well, I guess it was more like everyone else looking at me, expecting for me to do it. I'm not Haruhi's ambassador! Why do I have to be the one to have this talk with her?

Miss Asahina glanced to the door. "I-I think I'll go make some tea."

"Hold it," I said. "Let's not go wandering off on our own, okay?"

Koizumi nodded. "He's right. I'll come with you."

That's not what I meant! Koizumi, you bastard, if you try anything...

He just smiled. "We'll be back shortly."

With the two of them gone, I was left with Nagato and Haruhi. Seeing her sleeping like that reminded me just how vulnerable she really was. Underneath all her crazy powers and mysterious origins, she was just a girl. She never asked for any of this. At least, I don't think she did.

Oh, who am I kidding? She'd swim across the Pacific with both hands tied behind her back if she thought it would summon aliens. If it weren't for the fact that Nagato would end up being decommissioned, I'd almost think it'd be best if we _did_ give Haruhi's powers up. For her sake.

"Action must be taken immediately."

While I had been lost in thought, Nagato had moved to stand next to me. What sort of action, though? Are you okay with wiping the Data Integration Thought Entity out completely, or is there some kind of middle ground where you and it can both live?

"Listen, Nagato. I'm sorry to bring this up again, but I really do think it would be best if you were the one with Haruhi's powers right now. For everyone's safety. It doesn't matter to me what you do about the other interfaces, just as long as you and Haruhi are safe."

She stared at me for a minute, as if trying to come to a decision, before giving me a slow nod. "Understood."

I felt bad for pushing this on her, but we didn't have any other choice, right? If we'd had more time to prepare, maybe things would have been different. I needed a chance to explain everything to Haruhi without being rushed, in a situation where I could make sure she believed me. Maybe if I'd had more warning...

No, I should have seen this coming a long time ago. Threatening an omnipotent alien entity... The only reason we'd even made it this far was because of Nagato. Despite all those things I'd said, I was still relying on her. But this was for the best, right? Nagato was a much more reliable deity than Haruhi.

She moved to stand next to our sleeping brigade leader, and knelt down so that they were almost face-to-face. To be honest, I was actually kind of curious how this process worked. Did she have to do her whole speed-talking thing, or...?

"Physical contact is required."

Oh, I see. Kimidori _had_ tried to touch Haruhi back at Nagato's apartment. A shiver ran down my spine. That meant we came pretty close to losing everything back there.

Nagato reached out, but she was hesitant. I placed a hand on her shoulder. "It'll be okay. We'll all laugh at this at the club room tomorrow."

She looked up at me for a few seconds before slowly turning and leaning in toward Haruhi.

I'm not entirely sure what happened next. One second, her hand was moving toward Haruhi's arm, and the next, I was flying through the air. Something slammed into the back of my head, and by the time the fireworks had faded, I was lying on the floor. My entire body felt like it was on fire. What the hell was that? I managed to turn my head to look for Nagato, but my view was clouded by dust and debris.

There was a low thud, and Nagato was sent flying out of the haze like a bullet. She crashed into the opposite wall, almost breaking through to the other side, but not quite.

"You failed because you hesitated."

I stared in horror as the cloud of dust began to settle. No way. They'd said this place wouldn't be safe for long, but how had she found us so fast?

As Kimidori came into view, she turned to smile at me. "Don't worry, you're safe now. It's finally over."

Does that mean...? Haruhi was still on the couch, apparently still under the effects of Miss Asahina's sleep-inducing technology. She was completely covered in dust, minus one hand-shaped area on her arm that wasn't as dirty as the rest of her.

"Aren't you glad you don't have to worry about the world being destroyed anymore? I know this isn't exactly what you wanted, and I'm very sorry about that, but every cloud has a silver lining, right?"

Cringing through the pain, I struggled to my feet. Come on, Nagato. Pull yourself out of the wall. I've seen you take half a dozen spears to the chest and still keep talking. There's no way one hit like that could stop you.

I gritted my teeth. "That's fine," I said. "I don't care. Do whatever you want with Haruhi's powers. She's probably better off without them. Just leave Nagato out of this."

Kimidori's smile faded. "I honestly wish that I could, but I have orders to follow. Miss Nagato never received punishment for her defection last December, and I'm afraid her actions yesterday made things even worse."

She raised a hand, materializing a long, metal spear in the air. Rather than aiming at Nagato, it was pointed at me. "You know you can't fight back anymore. If you don't want him to get hurt, you should just give up."

Dammit, I'm not going to be used as a hostage! Judging from the handprint on Haruhi's arm, Kimidori had already taken her powers away. If that's the case, we've already lost the battle, but I might still be able to reason with her. Nagato rebelled against the Data Integration Thought Entity, so Kimidori can, too.

"Listen. Please. If Nagato can't steal Haruhi's powers anymore, then what's the risk of another malfunction? It's not like she can recreate the world again. If you have to punish her, take away her data-manipulating ability or something. You don't have to hurt her."

Kimidori didn't respond. She took a step toward Nagato, who simply stared back as if she'd given up.

"Stop!"

I turned just in time to see a red streak whiz across the room, followed by an explosion. It's about damn time, Koizumi. And Miss Asahina, you should get out of here. Go back in time or something. Stop this whole thing before it starts.

Kimidori's voice spoke from behind the veil of smoke. "Oh, I suppose she could, couldn't she? That won't do. These time travel devices are far too dangerous for me to let them continue to exist."

Wait, what? I hadn't said anything out loud. Was she a mind reader?

She snapped her fingers, and a shockwave erupted from her body. It rushed past me, but oddly enough, it didn't actually seem to do anything. Not that I could see, anyway.

Koizumi readied another shot, but something made him hesitate. It took me a second to realize it, since I was already in too much pain to move, but my body was paralyzed. It was just like before, when Asakura had immobilized me right before attempting to stab me. I wanted to shout, to say something that would convince Kimidori to stop this, but nothing came out.

It wasn't until Kimidori took another step forward, and I saw Nagato's outstretched hand, that I realized what was going on. Kimidori wasn't the one behind this. Nagato was. She was actually stopping us from interfering. But why? Stop kidding around, Nagato! Let us go!

"I'm glad to see you've decided to cooperate. Your friends will thank you for it later." She put a hand on Nagato's shoulder, and with a voice full of regret, said, "Goodbye."

_No!_

A few seconds later, Kimidori turned and walked out of the room, bowing slightly to us before closing the door behind her.

Nagato... your legs...

The hold on my body finally released as she lowered her arm, and I staggered forward. Koizumi beat me to her, and Miss Asahina was too horrified to even move.

"Don't worry."

I couldn't tear my eyes away from the light emanating from her dissolving legs. It was just like what had happened to Asakura.

"What can we do to help?" Koizumi asked.

"Nothing. My data link has been terminated. You will be safe."

She was looking at me when she said that. I made it to her side, but I had no idea what to do after that. "Don't give up, Nagato. Can't you fight it? There has to be something we can do."

The light had already reached her waist. Slowly, she reached out and gripped my shirt, and I looked up at her face.

For the first time, I saw fear in Nagato's eyes.

She could hardly show it, but she was terrified. Asakura had been almost nonchalant about the whole thing, but Nagato... Nagato was really, truly afraid to die.

"I am sorry."

She wasn't holding on to my shirt anymore, and I realized her arms had mostly dissolved. What do I say? What could I possibly tell her in this situation? I was helpless to stop it. I was just as useless now as I'd always been.

"Hey, what do you have to be sorry for?" I said, trying my best to sound confident. "Don't talk like this is goodbye. I'm..."

At that moment, something snapped inside me. All of the emotions I was feeling shifted into pure, blinding anger. It wasn't over. I wouldn't let things end this way. Not after everything she'd done for me. I don't care how bad things get. I'm going to save Nagato.

I locked eyes with her. "I'm going to find a way to get you back. I swear it. You got that? So you don't have to be afraid." I wiped my cheek on my sleeve. "You can count on me."

She didn't say anything, but the fear in her eyes seemed to have subsided, at least a little bit. As her head dissolved into light, I vaguely heard her whisper.

"Understood."

* * *

I'm not sure how long I stood there, staring at where she'd been. Koizumi didn't show any signs of moving, and Miss Asahina's sobbing quickly escalated to bawling. I probably would have stayed there all night if someone hadn't broken the silence.

"...Hnn... Huh? Mikuru, what's wrong?"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: In the original light novels, Mr. Tanigawa never directly states what year it is. Based on what little information we're given, the actual dates are impossible. For instance, if the events of December 17th through the 20th take place on school days, there's no way the following Valentine's Day could fall on a weekend as it does in **_**The Intrigues**_**.**

**Despite that, the best clue we have comes from the prologue of **_**The Melancholy**_**, where Kyon heavily implies that he's starting high school in the year 2000. For that reason, I've chosen to set the contradictions aside and roll with that. ****It's not really a big deal, but I wanted to get that out of the way before it comes up in this fanfic. Since this is their second year of high school, you can assume that this story takes place in July, 2001.**

**As always, I appreciate any feedback, and let me know if I start messing stuff up one way or another. We're getting to the part where I don't have a really solid reference for how the characters would act, so there's some guesswork involved, but I'm trying to stay true to the originals.**

**I hope you enjoy chapter four.**

* * *

"...Hnn... Huh? Mikuru, what's wrong?"

Come on, Haruhi, not now. Miss Asahina, please, put her back to sleep. I really don't feel like dealing with this right now.

"Hey, talk to me. What's the matter?" She paused. "And how did we get here? Isn't this Mr. Tamaru's mansion?"

I turned to Miss Asahina, who was still bawling. "Hey, listen," I said. "It's going to be okay. We can get her back, alright? I've seen it happen with my own two eyes. All we have to do is get the Data Integration Thought Entity to change its mind."

"But—I—don't..."

She was trying to talk and breathe at the same time, and it wasn't really working out. "Look, just try to calm down, okay?" I glanced over at Haruhi. "I'm sure you've got a ton of questions, but you're going to have to wait a bit. It's... complicated."

She shot me a glare, but luckily, she seemed more worried about Miss Asahina right now. You're usually the one making her cry in the first place, you hypocrite!

"My TPDD..."

Looks like she's starting to calm down. "What about your TPDD?" Don't tell me...

"Miss Kimidori did something, and now it's... it's..." She burst into tears again. "It's gone! It's just like before! I don't know where it could be, and I..."

Her words quickly deteriorated into incomprehensible sobs. No TPDD? That meant we had no way to travel back and prevent Nagato from being deleted. Hell, we didn't even have a way to get off this island, and I'm pretty sure Miss Asahina's sleep-inducing ability is probably linked to it, too. She was essentially a normal girl now. Just like Haruhi.

I looked over at Koizumi, who seemed to be struggling to keep up his calm demeanor. "What about you?" I asked. "Do you still have your esper powers?"

He sighed. "I think so. Not that it really matters at the moment. My abilities only work inside closed space, and I don't think we're very likely to see any of those anymore."

Right. For all intents and purposes, the members of the SOS Brigade were completely normal.

Haruhi got to her feet and started brushing herself off. "Okay, I don't know what's going on, but it's time for one of you to start explaining. I was having the craziest dream, and now I'm here on this island. And where's Yuki? And—..." Her eyes widened, and she glanced at the sobbing form of Miss Asahina before focusing her stare on me.

"Kyon. Where's Yuki?"

Dammit, Haruhi. Why do you have to be so smart? Can't you just give me a little more time to get myself together before interrogating me?

It was Koizumi who bailed me out. "Don't worry. Miss Nagato's going to be alright, she's just... well, she's not here right now."

"What does that mean?" she demanded. "I don't—"

"Kyon."

It caught me off-guard to hear Koizumi refer to me by that name. "What?"

"This is something she needs to hear from you."

It was probably the most serious look I'd ever seen on his face.

"Hear what?" Haruhi asked. "You guys are really starting to scare me."

God dammit. I couldn't put it off any longer. The sooner she understood the situation, the sooner we could find a way to bring Nagato back. "Okay. I'll do it."

Koizumi nodded, and started heading for the door. "We'll leave the two of you alone, then."

Hey, that wasn't part of the deal! Miss Asahina, please don't tell me you're just going to abandon me with her?!

She seemed to hesitate, but eventually gave me an apologetic look and hurried out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Et tu, Miss Asahina?

* * *

If you were to put sleeping Haruhi and irritated Haruhi side by side, you'd think the latter was some sort of evil twin. Looking across the table at her, it felt like I was staring down the Vagan Battleship armed with a rubber band gun and paper mache armor. I knew she was really just worried about Nagato and Miss Asahina, but it still felt like I needed to choose my words carefully.

"Haruhi, do you trust me?"

She scowled. "What kind of question is—"

"Just answer it," I said. "I mean it. Do you trust me?"

Apparently I caught her off-guard. "Well, of course I do," she said. "I trust all of my brigade members."

"Good, because what I'm about to tell you is going to sound crazy, but I'm one hundred percent serious. I need you to hear me out, and keep an open mind, okay?"

She crossed her arms. "Just get to the point. What's going on?"

Here we go.

"A while back, we had a talk at that café we always go to. It was the day none of the others showed up, so it was just you and me. Do you remember?"

I tried to savor the confused look on her face. It didn't happen often.

"I think so. Wasn't... Wait, you mean that day when you tried to convince me the other members of the brigade weren't human?"

She has a good memory. But then, I think she actually used that conversation as inspiration for the movie. "That's the one."

I took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.

"The truth is, I was being completely serious."

She stared at me for a few seconds, apparently torn between the fact that I'd sworn to tell the truth and the fact that what I was saying sounded completely ridiculous. I decided to go on.

"Miss Asahina really is a time traveler from the future. Koizumi's an esper, and Nagato's actually an alien. They were all sent here to keep an eye on you."

After a few more seconds of silence, she asked, "Kyon, are you feeling okay?"

See, Koizumi? This is why I wanted the two of you here, so you could back me up. I hate to say 'I told you so'... Actually, no I don't. I told you so.

But it was too late to back out now. "I'm serious. They were all sent by their respective organizations to observe you and keep your powers in check."

"_My_ powers? What the heck are you talking about? Kyon, I hope this isn't some kind of..."

It's not a joke. I told you that already, didn't I? "Look, I'll just get straight to the point. Four years ago, a high schooler happened to be walking by as you were sneaking into East Junior High. He was carrying his narcoleptic sister on his back, and you made him draw all those hieroglyphs on the school quad."

_That_ got her attention.

She stared at me in shock for a few seconds before lowering her head, hiding her eyes behind her bangs. "How do you know about that?" she asked, gripping the couch cushion. "Who told you about him?"

"Nobody," I said. "That night, Miss Asahina told me she wanted to take me somewhere. She actually took me back to four years ago. July 7th, 1997. I didn't know why at first, but then I ran into you."

Haruhi was trembling. "That's not possible," she whispered.

"But it is," I said. "Haruhi. I'm John Smith."

She lifted her head, looking at me with the same astonished expression she'd had in the alternate world, last December. I wish I could have taken a picture.

"You're... John Smith?"

It actually felt pretty good to get that off my chest. "Like I said, we went back in time to Tanabata, and I helped you draw those weird symbols. And I know what they said, too. They said, 'I am right here.' Oh, and my narcoleptic sister? That was actually Miss Asahina."

Haruhi was quiet for a good thirty seconds after that. She was probably trying to find some other way to explain how I knew so much.

"And I know about that dream you had, where we were trapped at the school. Those blue giants are actually these things Koizumi fights. They're called—"

"Why?"

Huh?

Haruhi stood, walked over to where I was sitting, and gripped my shirt. For a second, I thought she was going to headbutt me again.

"Why are you telling me this now?" She raised her head enough for me to see the anger in her eyes. "If these amazing things are really happening all around me, why would you wait so long to tell me about it?!"

Hey, in my defense, I technically _did_ tell you.

I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out. It was weird. I'd been prepared for a question like that, but the way she asked it caught me by surprise. She actually seemed... hurt?

I finally found my voice. "Hey, it's complicated. I haven't even gotten to _your_ powers yet." I pointed to the couch across from me. "Sit down, and I'll start from the beginning."

* * *

And so, I told Haruhi everything.

Well, not _everything_. There were some things I really didn't want her to know about yet. But I told her how Nagato, Miss Asahina, and Koizumi had approached me one by one and tried to convince me that she had these weird powers. I told her about some of the things that had happened afterward, things that proved they were telling the truth. And I told her that if she were to find out about her powers _while_ she had her powers, it could make things even more complicated than they already were.

Haruhi pretty much just sat there and listened to my whole spiel without saying anything. The angry look on her face had gradually faded away, and had been replaced with one of curiosity.

"Actually, it feels like you're just reminding me of something I already know," she finally said. "Like when you can't remember how to solve a homework problem, but as soon as I tell you, you wonder how you ever forgot in the first place? It feels like that."

That's great, but do you think you could come up with an example that isn't so condescending?

She finally nodded and grinned, lighting up the room with that million-watt smile of hers. "Alright, I believe you. But you still haven't explained why it's safe to tell me these things now."

Right. That brought us back to the situation at hand. How was I supposed to tell her about Nagato? There was no easy way to go about it.

"Let's see. I guess it all started last December."

At this rate, 'last December' was going to become the new 'three years ago'.

"There was an error in Nagato's program, and she used your powers to recreate the world without any of the supernatural stuff." I didn't have the heart to tell her _she_ was the reason Nagato was so stressed out. Six hundred years of reliving the same two weeks over and over? I know I wouldn't be able to bear being responsible for putting somebody through that. Especially somebody I cared about.

"So you're saying I don't have them anymore?" she asked.

Don't sound so disappointed!

"Well, you don't, but that's not why," I said. "We were eventually able to fix the world back to the way it was."

I'd reached the point I'd been dreading this whole time. I thought back to that conversation with Nagato at the hospital, where I'd used Haruhi as leverage against the Data Integration Thought Entity.

"The truth is, Nagato's superiors were going to punish her for it, but I threatened them, so they dropped the issue."

She smirked. "You threatened an alien overmind? I don't believe it. Who knew you actually had some guts?"

I ignored her and went on. "It worked for a while, but I guess they decided it was too dangerous to let me have that kind of power over them." I forced myself to make eye contact. This had to be worded very carefully.

"They took your powers away, and then terminated her data link. Her mind still exists somewhere in the thought entity, but she doesn't have a body anymore."

I know it's a cliché expression, but the only way to describe the expression that took over Haruhi's face... It was like she'd seen a ghost.

"What do you mean she doesn't have a body anymore?"

"I mean she's gone, but it can be undone. The same thing happened to Asakura, and the Data Integration Thought entity brought her back not too long ago."

"You _idiot!_"

Haruhi stood, clenching her fists. "She's been in trouble this whole time, and you're telling me _now?_ What's _wrong_ with you?!"

What was I supposed to say? 'Sorry, Nagato was deleted by an alien thought entity, and by the way, you're not god anymore'? You wouldn't have understood if I hadn't given you some context!

"We don't have time to just stand around," she said. "How are we going to get her back? Do you even have a plan?"

Well, no, not exactly, but that's never stopped us before. "It's not going to be easy, but we still have a few options."

I really didn't want to turn to Tachibana's group for help, but the only thing that could stand up to an all-powerful alien interface was another alien. Granted, Kuyoh Suoh and I weren't on the best terms after she tried to kill Haruhi, but that had mostly been Fujiwara's doing. Don't get me wrong, I still don't like her, but Nagato's neck is on the line. Besides, she's our best bet at getting Nagato back.

After a moment of eye contact, she seemed to relax a little. "Well, I guess it can't be _that_ hopeless if you're able to be optimistic about it, but I wish you'd told me sooner."

I took that as my cue to stand. It was probably about time to find Koizumi and Miss Asahina, anyway. I could use a cup of her tea right about now.

* * *

While I'd been talking to Haruhi, Koizumi had apparently been consoling Miss Asahina in the main foyer. They were sitting on the central staircase when we found them, and she seemed to be feeling a bit better.

I'm glad. You can go ahead and step away from her now, Koizumi.

Haruhi looked from one to the other, giving them the same accusatory look she'd given me earlier. "Is what Kyon said true?" she asked. "About you two, and Yuki?"

Koizumi smiled. "Well, assuming he told you that I am an esper, and Miss Asahina here is from the future, then yes, it's all true. As for Miss Nagato, she would be the alien of the group."

She glanced back at me, apparently satisfied that our stories matched.

"While the two of you were talking, I took the liberty of calling my colleagues for help. A boat should arrive to pick us up in a few hours."

And you're sure they won't do anything to hurt Haruhi?

He sighed, but never broke his smile. "No, now that she's just an ordinary girl, there'd be no point. And regardless, Mr. Arakawa and Miss Mori are loyal to Miss Suzumiya."

"No way," Haruhi said. "You mean they're in on it, too?"

"Oh, my apologies. I guess I should have asked exactly how much he told you."

Just enough for her to believe me. I'd told her that her 'dream' last year hadn't been a dream, that Koizumi's part-time job actually involved battling those blue giants we saw, and that Nagato's 'ventriloquism' in our movie was actually Shamisen talking. I'm not sure what I'll do if she _does_ get her powers back, though. It could be a problem if he starts waxing philosophical when my sister's around.

"I see. In that case, why don't we go for a walk? I'd like to tell you a little more about the organization I work for, and what it is we do."

Haruhi nodded. "Sure. You'll probably be able to explain it better than Kyon could anyway."

Hah. Ahahah. If Haruhi only knew how long-winded Koizumi's explanations could be, she'd avoid private conversations with him like the plague. Serves her right, though. We'll see if she still feels the same way when he's ten minutes into a pointless philosophical monologue.

The two of them headed upstairs, presumably to wander around for a bit. Haruhi looked back at me as they rounded a corner, glaring from me to Miss Asahina before disappearing from sight.

What's her problem?

* * *

Nothing can calm my nerves quite like a cup of Miss Asahina's tea.

We were back in the lounge, having spent a few minutes in the kitchen while she brewed our drinks. I'd been surprised to find a fully stocked pantry, considering the mansion was supposed to be unoccupied right now. Maybe it had been Nagato's doing.

Miss Asahina had stopped crying, but she still looked concerned. Not that I could blame her. "Is there anything you want to talk about?" I asked, taking another drink.

"Oh, it's just... everything," she said. "I know she didn't really die, but that's what I thought at the time, so that's still what it feels like."

I see. It hadn't exactly been easy on me, either, but at least I'd known it was reversible. Miss Asahina hadn't had that luxury. "I'm sorry."

"O-Oh, no, you don't have to apologize!" she said, waving her arms. "I'll be fine, really."

I set down my cup, and she refilled it.

"By the way, Koizumi called that girl while you two were talking. The one who..."

It took me a second to figure out who she was talking about. "Wait, you mean Tachibana?"

She nodded. "Mm-hm."

I'd figured we'd have to contact her, but I wish he'd talked to me about it first. "Did he tell you what she said?"

"No, he just said she'd be able to help us get Miss Nagato back."

Does that mean she's on our side? Sure, Fujiwara had misled her about his intentions, but she was still more enemy than friend, at least to me. If it wasn't for her, that incident in April wouldn't have happened.

"Well, don't worry," I said. "Once we get Nagato back, we'll get your TPDD back, too." The fact that I'd met the older Miss Asahina meant she had to get it back sooner or later, right? Or was this one of those we-failed-to-save-the-future situations?

"That's classified."

A few minutes later, the door opened, and Koizumi stepped into the room. "Hey," I said. "Where's Haruhi?"

"She's up on the roof getting some fresh air. I think taking everything in at once has been pretty hard on her."

I wonder whose fault that is. With your lung capacity, you could probably earn Japan some Olympic gold medals in the swimming events.

"Do you think you could talk to her? You've had success cheering her up in the past. And this time, we don't have to worry about the cherry blossoms blooming out of season."

I guess I can give it a shot. Normally, she'd be the one spurring us on to save Nagato, but I guess this time I'm going to have to kick her back into gear.

* * *

Between getting flung into a wall and only getting an hour and a half of sleep, I was really starting to wish this mansion had an elevator. The stairs were killing me.

When I emerged onto the rooftop balcony, Haruhi glanced over at me before returning her gaze to the sky.

"Hey," I said, walking over to lean against the railing next to her. "I guess Koizumi filled you in on the Organization?"

"Is that what he's normally like?"

Huh? What do you mean?

"Koizumi. The way he talked... He's not as much of a blind follower as he makes himself out to be."

Oh, that. "Yeah, that sounds about right. When he's around you, he's nothing but a suck-up, only speaking when he's spoken to. But get him alone, and he'll talk your ear off about all sorts of pointless stuff."

We stood out there in silence for a few minutes. In any other situation, it might have been kind of nice.

"It feels like I don't actually know any of you anymore," she said, resting her head on her arms. "All this stuff was happening right under my nose, and I never even noticed. It makes me think. How well do I really know you guys? Yuki has so much going on in the background, Mikuru's from a completely different time, and Koizumi goes around fighting those celestial things every time I get pissed off! It pisses me off!"

Do you not see the irony here? And actually, that last one saved us a while ago.

She picked her head up and looked at me. "How can I call myself the brigade leader when I'm the only one left out of the loop like that?"

I sighed. "Haruhi."

"Yeah, what?"

"You're being an idiot."

She scowled. "Who are you calling an idiot?"

I turned around, leaning back against the railing and tilting my head back to look at the sky. "Sure, we hid stuff from you. We had to. But we're still the same people, you know? Miss Asahina's still shy and soft-spoken, even when she's talking about time travel. Honestly, there's not a lot she can tell us in the first place. Koizumi's more talkative, but I honestly wish he wasn't. And Nagato... Well, I don't usually understand much of what she's saying, but I guess you could say she's stuck by your side longer than any of us."

"And what about you?"

I looked over at her. Me? What about me? Am I a different person to Haruhi than I am to the others? I've never really treated her any differently than I would have if she _didn't_ have the ability to recreate the world, so I can't imagine having a different personality when she's not around.

"Sorry to say it, but this is all there is to me," I said, shrugging. "I'm just an ordinary guy, so I don't really have a reason to wear a mask around you. I'm just along for the ride."

That seemed to satisfy her. She looked down at the water, though I can't imagine she'd really be able to see anything at this time of night.

"Koizumi told me some other things, too."

Great. Like what?

"Like the fact that you had a chance to live in a world where we were all normal, and you passed it up," she said, as if it were an accusation. "And Asakura tried to stab you?"

Twice. And she actually succeeded the second time.

"He said you've been a loyal brigade member, more than I could have known. So..." She swung a finger into my face. "I'm promoting you to Chief First Member of the SOS Brigade!"

Yeah, Haruhi? How is that any different from my old title? All you did was all 'chief' to the front. You might as well call me 'Head Grunt'. I guess I'll take what I can get, though. Even if it doesn't really change my standing within the brigade, it feels nice to have an actual title.

Not that I'd admit that to her.

"Gee, I'm honored," I said. "Anyway, we've all been in dangerous situations since we joined the brigade, but isn't it the duty of the members to keep an eye out for their leader, or something? I'm pretty sure you'd do the same thing for us."

She smirked. "Of course! But I wouldn't make stupid mistakes like you do. Honestly, having to have Yuki rescue you? That's pathetic!"

Haruhi pushed off from the rail and started to head back inside, but stopped. I watched, confused, as she turned around and walked over to me.

Then she slapped me. Hard. I had to take an extra step to keep from losing my balance.

"Ow! What the heck was that for?!"

"That night, at the school," she said, heading back toward the door. With one hand on the handle, she swung an arm back and pointed at me. "I never gave you permission to do that! _Ultimate penalty!_"

* * *

**A/N: I feel like this was a pretty dialogue-heavy chapter, but it had to be done. Chapter five will be a bit more balanced now that Haruhi's more or less in the loop. Thanks for reading. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thanks again to everyone who's given me feedback on this story. Onward to chapter five, wherein Miss Asahina wishes she'd brought a sports bra.**

* * *

By the time Haruhi and I got back to the lounge, Miss Asahina was fast asleep on the couch. Koizumi had covered her up with a blanket, much to my chagrin, and gave me an apologetic shrug.

I noticed several more blankets folded up on the table. "What's this? You expecting us to just sleep in here?"

"That's right."

Quick response!

Koizumi stood and placed a blanket on the couch where he'd been sitting. "I know the risk of another attack is low, but I'd still feel more comfortable if we stayed together for the rest of the night." He took a blanket for himself, and paused. "Of course, you don't have to. I'd just feel better if we were all within sight of one another."

Yeah, I don't think that's going to fly. If anything, Haruhi will—

"Fine."

Say what?

She rolled her eyes. "Grow up. In situations like this, it's best to stick together."

With that, she laid down next to Miss Asahina on the larger couch, and before I knew it, Koizumi had taken the smaller one. Sharing a room with Miss Asahina _and_ Haruhi? I wouldn't have it any other way, but it felt... odd.

I shrugged it off and took the last blanket. Koizumi pulled his feet up as if offering me the other end of the couch, which I walked directly past on my way to the recliner.

"So I hear you called Tachibana?" I asked, spreading my blanket out. "What'd she say?"

"She seemed eager to help. However, she hasn't been in touch with Miss Suoh or Fujiwara since the incident in April. She did say she still talks to Miss Sasaki, though."

That was probably good news. If she'd kept in touch with the Kuyoh or the sneering bastard, she'd be a bit harder to trust. "I don't want to see that guy's face again, anyway. Go ahead and leave him out of it."

"Duly noted. Judging from what Miss Kimidori said just before taking Miss Asahina's TPDD, we can assume his is probably missing as well."

I thought back, but I couldn't remember exactly what she said. I'd been too focused on what was happening to Nagato.

"She said 'These time travel devices are far too dangerous for me to let them continue to exist'. Then she released what appeared to be some sort of shockwave. My guess is that it continued to spread beyond this island, eliminating any TPDDs that happened to exist in this time. Miss Asahina seems to agree with my theory."

The only other time traveler I knew was the sneering bastard, so I guess that's okay. Serves him right. I hope he's freaking out about being stuck in our time right now.

"Hey, who are you guys talking about?"

Haruhi had gotten comfortable on the couch, but she was still eagerly listening to our conversation.

"Oh, there are other aliens, time travelers, and espers besides the ones on our side," I said, reclining back in my chair. "If we're lucky, we might be able to convince this other alien girl to help us get Nagato back. She's a little weird, though."

Her eyes narrowed. "Okay, so what does Sasaki have to do with it?"

Can't you just go to sleep? A normal person would have passed out ages ago.

"I'm afraid it's rather complicated," Koizumi said. "For now, I think it's best if we get some rest. You've had a lot to take in today."

Haruhi sat there for a minute, then rolled over. "I guess," she said. "Good night, then."

* * *

I'm not really a fan of slice-of-life romance anime, and this is exactly why. They're completely unrealistic.

If real life were anything like they'd have you believe, I would have already ended up in some sort of embarrassing situation with Miss Asahina, followed by a cheesy romantic moment, and by the time we left the mansion in the morning, we'd be a couple.

Unfortunately, even though reality was a lot less exciting, I was still having a lot of trouble trying to fall asleep. Sure, I was exhausted, and the recliner was more comfortable than I'd expected, but without anything to distract me, I kept replaying the day's events over and over in my head.

Haruhi rolled over on the couch, and for a few seconds, we made eye contact. At least, I think we did. It was hard to tell. What little moonlight was leaking through the curtains didn't give me much to go on. Either way, I rolled onto my side and closed my eyes.

* * *

You can imagine the kind of nightmares I had that night.

I was standing on the roof of the hospital with Nagato, and it was just starting to snow. I looked up at the sky, and above us was another Nagato, dissolving into light particles that transformed into snowflakes as they fell. I'd looked back down, and the first Nagato was gone. When the snow finally stopped, I woke up.

I wasn't sure what to make of it, but it disturbed me.

In the end, I'm not sure how much sleep I actually got. The sun was just coming up, and a cursory glance at my phone told me it was a couple of minutes after five.

The door opened, and Koizumi walked in. I hadn't even noticed he was missing.

"Oh, you're awake," he said in a low voice. "I was actually about to wake you up. Did you sleep well?"

I don't know. I'll tell you once I'm done.

"I just got off the phone with my associates. They should be here to pick us up within the hour. If you want to get washed up, now's the time."

Fighting the urge to fall back asleep, I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Any chance they could give us a few more hours? I don't know how some people can function on four hours of sleep, let alone whatever I got.

Once the girls were awake, the four of us split up to shower. The mansion didn't have any spare clothes lying around, so we were forced to change right back into the clothes we'd been running around and sweating in. It pretty much defeated the purpose of showering in the first place.

Realizing this, I made my shower a quick one, and ended up being the first one out. Girls tend to take longer showers anyway, and it wasn't hard to imagine the same rule applying for Koizumi. I ended up taking a seat on the main staircase to wait for the others.

Koizumi joined me a few minutes later. "Oh, you're already done?" he asked.

"Yep."

An awkward silence.

"So," I said, "what's the plan for today? I take it we won't be going to school." I doubt they'd call my parents or anything, but we'd have to fix things quickly if we didn't want classes to get in the way.

He sat down next to me, a bit too close for comfort. "I'd like to contact Miss Suoh as soon as possible. Miss Tachibana should be calling soon to let us know whether or not she was able to track her down."

"And you're sure we can trust her?" I asked, leaning away from him.

"Not entirely, no. But with Miss Suzumiya powerless, there'd be no reason for her to become hostile."

Uh huh. And even if she _is_ able to take the powers back, what's to stop her from just keeping them for herself?

He looked away. "That's the big question, isn't it? But as long as we can get Miss Nagato back, things can't end too badly."

Now that you said that out loud, I'm sure they'll only go from bad to worse. Keep in mind that if we don't get Haruhi's reality-warping abilities back, you'll essentially be powerless, too.

Koizumi looked down the hall, and I saw a rare, genuine smile on his face. "If that were to be the case, I think I could live with that."

Haruhi and Miss Asahina emerged a few minutes later, and we all headed down to the pier to wait for our boat to arrive. As we got closer, I noticed something odd. Haruhi, ever vigilant, beat me to the punch.

"Are those scorch marks?"

A short distance down the pier, there was what appeared to be a large, vaguely circular burn on the concrete. It looked like a rocket had taken off, but there was no way we wouldn't have heard something like that.

Miss Asahina ran a finger along the mark, but nothing came off. "Maybe it was already like this last night?" she suggested. "It was dark when we got here, so it's possible we just didn't see it."

"I would have noticed," Haruhi said. "Look, there are even some cracks. Even if it was pitch black, I would have felt that when I walked over it."

Then where did it come from? Kimidori had appeared inside the mansion, not outside. I'd just assumed she'd teleported or something, but now that I thought about it, she'd left through the door. Did she actually have some kind of spaceship? The thought was too bizarre to even entertain.

Miss Asahina interrupted my train of thought. "Look, something's coming!"

Off on the horizon, a boat was approaching us. As it got closer, it became clear that it wasn't just a speedboat like I'd been expecting. It had a black, inflatable tube around the edge, and it skipped from wave to wave like one of those high-speed boats the coast guard might use. Great. Last time, we'd made the trip on a nice, luxurious ship, but it looked like they were aiming for speed over comfort this time.

As the boat pulled up to the pier, I recognized Mr. Arakawa behind the wheel.

Haruhi raised her hand to greet him. "Mr. Arakawa! It's good to see you again. Hey, is it true that you're an esper, too?"

He gave a slight bow. "Indeed I am, and Ms. Mori as well. I apologize that we had to keep it from you for so long."

"So do you fight those giant monsters too, then?" she asked, stepping down into the boat.

I tuned her out and got myself situated into one of the seats. Miss Asahina sat down on the opposite side, giving me a weak smile. At least we didn't have any luggage; the boat was cramped enough as it was.

Once everyone was sitting down, we pulled away from the pier. Immediately, I realized it was going to be a bumpy ride. The more speed we picked up, the less time we spent actually touching the water. Our seats were designed to absorb most of the impact, but there was no way this kind of boat was meant for long-distance trips. I was already starting to feel seasick.

On the bright side, the constant bouncing did have some perks...

Miss Asahina had her eyes shut tight, and even Haruhi was looking a little nauseous, which was surprising. She's the last person I would have expected to succumb to motion sickness. Maybe her powers were somehow responsible for her apparent invulnerability to such things.

"Kyon!"

Huh?

Haruhi moved to sit next to me. "I was trying to get your attention, but it's too loud," she said. It was true; between the engine and the sounds of the ocean, it was hard to hear each other talk.

"I wanted to know more about the other aliens and time travelers and espers. What are they like? And what does Sasaki have to do with it?"

Do we really have to talk about this now?

"Well, the time traveler's an ass," I said. "As for the others, I think the alien is easy to manipulate, but she's too weird for me to tell if she's evil or not. Her names' Kuyoh Suoh, or Suoh Kuyoh, I'm not sure which."

Haruhi grinned. "And what about the esper?"

"She's alright. I wouldn't say I trust her, but she's probably the most innocent of the three. Her name's Kyoko Tachibana."

"A girl, huh?" Haruhi sat back and brought a hand to her chin. "Does she fight those monsters like Koizumi?"

I grimaced and looked down at my feet. She'd trapped me. I couldn't really explain the difference without first telling her about Sasaki's role. But, I guess it's probably better for her to hear it from me than to let Tachibana use whatever pitch she's probably preparing.

"Not really. See, Koizumi's powers are tied to you, but Tachibana's powers are tied to Sasaki. Her group seems to think that Sasaki originally had the ability to change reality, and somehow, it got transferred to you by mistake."

She looked just as confused as I'd been when I first heard the same thing.

"What? So she doesn't have powers, but there are still espers linked to her? Does she still make closed spaces?"

She—... Huh. Come to think of it, I'd never thought to ask why Sasaki can still create closed space if she doesn't have any powers. Is closed space just some sort of side-effect that never goes away? And if it is, does that mean Haruhi's going to keep putting the world in jeopardy every time she has a bad dream?

"Yeah, she does," I said. "Hers is just one big closed space, though. It covers the entire world, and if you ask me, it's pretty boring. Nothing ever changes in it."

Haruhi seemed to lose interest after hearing that, and moved on to asking Miss Asahina a bunch of questions about the future. I couldn't help but smirk as she became acquainted with the phrase "Classified information".

At one point, Koizumi got up and moved to mess with some kind of briefcase behind Mr. Arakawa. I couldn't really see what he was doing, but he was only there for a few minutes before coming back and leaning in to speak to us.

"We'll be meeting with Miss Tachibana at our usual café."

Wait, you mean you actually have a phone that works out here?

"That's great!" Haruhi said. "No offense, but I can't wait to meet some people who still have their powers!"

He smiled. "Well, she still hasn't gotten in touch with Miss Suoh, so we may only be able to meet with Miss Tachibana."

Haruhi's eyebrows shot up. "What about the time traveler? Isn't he going to be there?"

He better not be!

"Relax, he won't be," Koizumi said. He turned to Haruhi. "Fujiwara was behind an incident last April, one that could have ended very badly if we had failed to stop it. Things got out of hand, and... Well, to say the least, it's best if we don't see him for a while."

I crossed my arms, signaling for Koizumi to stop before he said anything else. I didn't want Haruhi to know the finer details.

"Oh, really? I had no idea."

After that, Haruhi got quiet.

By ferry, the trip had taken around seven hours, including a brief stop to change ships, but this thing got us to the mainland in less than two.

My legs shook with a vengeance as I finally stepped off the boat. We were in a small shipyard, probably one the Organization owned. Up ahead, I could see a familiar black car waiting for us.

"Right this way," Mr. Arakawa said. "We've prepared transportation to take you to your respective homes, so you can change clothes."

"Wow, you're really on top of things," Haruhi said. "Is this all part of your organization, too?"

Koizumi smiled and opened the car door for her. "We're fortunate to have plenty of connections. We may not be able to use our esper abilities right now, but we still have a wide network of people who are willing to lend a hand."

That's funny, you made them sound pretty dangerous last night. I hope you're not just trying to win Haruhi over to your side.

The ride was mostly quiet. Koizumi sat in the front seat, which left me crammed into the back with Haruhi and Miss Asahina. Guess who I got stuck next to.

We stopped by my house first. My family was already out for the day, so I didn't run into any interference as I changed into a fresh set of clothes. I'd started to absentmindedly put on my school uniform before realizing I could wear whatever I wanted.

Next was Koizumi, who lives in a modest house not too far from Miss Tsuruya's. I sort of wanted to go inside and check things out, but we didn't have time. I can't imagine what sort of parents or home life a guy like him might have.

Scratch that. I don't want to know.

After a brief stop by Miss Asahina's apartment—she lived alone, no surprise there—we headed for Haruhi's house. I'd only been there once before, but it had been a memorable visit to say the least. Suddenly appearing in her bedroom like that... Looking back, it felt ten times more dangerous than the Asakura incident. At least I hadn't had to meet her parents. Anyone capable of raising a daughter like her had to be completely insane.

Once we were all changed out of our pajamas, Koizumi gave Tachibana another call. I guess she's skipping school, too. That's probably for the best. She still somewhat poses a threat to the Data Integration Thought Entity, and if you think an alien overmind might come after you, it's best to avoid the places it'd look first.

"Oh good, so you're already in the area?" Koizumi said. "We're on our way now. I—"

He paused, and the slightest look of tension leaked into his smile. "Oh, I see. That's fine. I guess it really doesn't make a difference at this point. See you soon."

He hung up and tucked his phone into his pocket. What was that all about?

"Oh, it's nothing," he said. "Just esper-related things. Nothing you'd be interested in, I'm sure."

_"I would!"_

Well of course _you_ would, Haruhi.

For a second, Koizumi actually seemed surprised, like he'd been caught in a lie, but he quickly recovered. "It's nothing, really. I'm sure this meeting will be interesting."

And what was that supposed to mean?

Haruhi leaned forward, gripping Koizumi's seat. "You bet it will! How could it not be? If they don't want to help us get Yuki back, I'll _make_ them help us."

Doesn't she realize she fell for his bait?

We arrived at the café a few minutes later. As I got out, I felt a strange sense of nostalgia, even though it hadn't been long since our last visit. As the others got out behind me, I realized,

"This is where I first tried to tell you the truth."

Haruhi stopped for a moment, then shrugged. "Oh yeah, I guess it is. You know, if you'd been more serious about it, I probably would have believed you."

Liar.

She led the charge inside, and with a sigh, I followed. It wasn't until we got inside that I realized just what Koizumi meant about this meeting being interesting. As soon as I stepped through the door, an unexpected voice called out to me.

"Hey again, close friend."

* * *

**A/N: I'm not sure why, but I wasn't particularly happy with this chapter. If you noticed anything specific, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know. I've been learning Japanese in my spare time, and I think my rate of 120 Kanji per day is starting to fry my brain. :'D**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry about the slight delay with this chapter. I ended up getting sick on my day off, and I'm a big baby who can't write if he has a headache.**

**As usual, I greatly appreciate any feedback you kind folks leave in the reviews, and this time, I gotta give a special shout-out to user Vincent Van Goggles, a.k.a. Arthur, for acting as my beta reader. As we move into the part of this story that incorporates characters from the most recent Haruhi novels, I'd like to know if my characterization of any of them seems off. I'm not as confident with the newer characters, so be sure to give me a heads up if I completely destroy them. :D**

**That being said, I hope you enjoy chapter six.**

* * *

"Hey again, close friend."

Sasaki's voice caught me by surprise, but it was a welcome one. Even if Tachibana only brought her along because she wanted to pitch her side of things to Haruhi, having Sasaki around would help keep the conversation a bit more balanced.

The black haze of Kuyoh's hair was there, too, facing away from the entrance. I wondered if Haruhi and the others could see her, or if she was preventing people from noticing her, like usual. I guess if I can see her without her having to be pointed out, she's probably visible to everyone.

"Hey, Sasaki. I didn't know you were coming. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"That it has," she said, "although not nearly as long as last time. I hope you haven't forgotten about me entirely."

Of course not. The truth is, when you know Haruhi, your free time becomes fair game for whatever crazy scheme she comes up with. She can be hard to schedule around.

Our usual booth was too small for the seven of us, so we ended up moving to one of the longer tables. Tachibana sat down directly across from Haruhi, which I'm sure was no accident.

"I never thought I'd be having this conversation with you," she said. "I do wish it had been under better circumstances, though."

So you know everything that's happened so far, then?

"I know that your friend Miss Nagato was... let's say, taken... by Miss Kimidori. And the same goes for your time machine, right?"

Miss Asahina stared down at the table in front of her. She seemed somewhat nervous about talking to Tachibana, but then, she _was_ her former kidnapper. "Yes, that's right."

"And my esper powers are essentially useless without closed space," Koizumi said. "I get the feeling they'd still work if I were to enter one of Miss Sasaki's closed spaces, but I can't imagine that would help us get Miss Nagato back."

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Haruhi watching Kuyoh, staring with enough intensity to spark nuclear fusion.

"So you're really an alien?!" she finally asked, leaning forward across the table.

A little louder, please. I don't think they heard you across the street.

Kuyoh didn't seem to realize she was being spoken to at first, but after a few seconds, she turned to look at Haruhi. Her smile was beautiful, but it was also the very definition of the term 'uncanny valley'.

"Yes, I am what you would call an alien," she said. I really had to marvel at how much her ability to communicate had improved since I first met her.

Haruhi looked her up and down, then sat back in her chair, apparently satisfied. "I'm Haruhi Suzumiya. It's really good to meet you!"

I could only imagine the endless stream of questions Haruhi was struggling to suppress right about now.

"And you're an esper," she said, pointing to Tachibana. "Hey, hold on. I recognize you. Weren't you with Sasaki that day? When Kyon actually showed up on time for once?"

Tachibana nodded. "That's right. I'm glad you remember. And yes, I'm an esper. I can show you my powers, if you like."

In a move that must have demonstrated more restraint than the Kurobe Dam, Haruhi declined. "Maybe later. More importantly, how are we getting Yuki back?"

Koizumi gave Kuyoh his best smile. "What do you think, Miss Suoh? Can you help us?"

Every eye in the group was on her.

"...attempts to communicate... have failed," she said. "Emiri Kimidori is—not present."

I think you misunderstood the question. We know Kimidori isn't here, we're asking if you can find her and take Haruhi's powers back.

"She is not present," she said, repeating herself. "Emiri Kimidori's location is unknown."

Seriously? She's somewhere even you can't find her? I mean, sure, she has Haruhi's godlike powers, but I hadn't expected her to be able to hide herself like that.

"You're kidding," Tachibana said. "You really can't find her anywhere?"

"She is nowhere."

The way she said that was unsettling. If Kuyoh couldn't find her, where could she be?

"Well, that would be the million dollar question," Koizumi said, crossing his arms as if he'd just made some brilliant insight. "If we can't locate her, we won't be able to fix the situation."

My heart sank. We weren't even five minutes into the conversation, and we'd already hit a wall. If we still had Miss Asahina's TPDD, we could just go back and stop Kimidori before she left the island, or at least see where she went.

Wait.

"Kuyoh, are you able to travel through time?" I asked. Nagato had been able to stop time in the spare room of her apartment for three years, so surely the Heavenly Canopy Dominion had similar capabilities, right?

"Under normal circumstances, the answer would... be yes," she said. "My abilities have been—limited by Emiri Kimidori. Temporal transfer is no longer possible."

Dammit! She's been limited, too? Kimidori really didn't leave us anything to work with.

"What about the rest of your powers?" Haruhi asked.

"Meaning of query unclear. Define 'powers'."

Sasaki stepped in. "She's still able to do things besides time travel, if that's what you're getting at. Right, Kuyoh?"

No response.

I decided to give it a whirl. "Are you still able to..." Ah, how had Nagato put it? "Can you still manipulate special data?"

Slowly, she nodded. "I am able."

Well, it was a start. It was a hell of a lot better than nothing, that's for sure.

"If I may, I'd like to summarize what we know so far," Koizumi said. "Just to make sure I understand everything. Miss Asahina, your TPDD was taken by Miss Kimidori, and we have reason to believe she may have done the same with any other time travel-enabled devices that existed at the time. Is that right?"

"Yes. That's what it seems like, anyway. I don't know for sure if she took anyone else's or not."

He pressed on. "And Miss Suoh's ability to travel through time has also been suppressed. As far as I can tell, we can reach two separate conclusions from this."

Koizumi pulled a pen from his pocket, and held a hand out toward me as if asking for a napkin. I really need to start charging.

"Thank you," he said as I handed one to him. We watched as he drew a simple diagram: a stick figure standing on top of an arrow that presumably represented the flow of time. Then, he drew a dotted line from the stick figure toward the future.

"The first possibility is that Miss Kimidori has altered the laws of this reality in such a way that time travel is no longer possible." He scribbled through the dotted line to show that the person's access to the future had been cut off. "If this is the case, then it would seem rather redundant for her to also take Miss Asahina's TPDD."

"Right," Haruhi said. "It'd already be useless, so there'd be no reason to take it."

"Precisely."

You two can stop patting each other on the back any time now.

Koizumi ignored me and went on, drawing a second copy of the original diagram. "It seems more likely to me that Miss Kimidori left the possibility of time travel intact, and has merely removed our access to any device that would allow us to take advantage of it." He drew a small X through the corner of the stick figure's head, which I guess was supposed to represent the TPDD being removed.

"So if your hypothesis is correct, then time travel is still possible," Sasaki said, "we just don't have any way to do it."

"That would be the case, yes," he said, putting his pen away. "Of course, it's only a theory. But if we could create a new TPDD, we might be able to go back and stop Miss Kimidori before she escapes."

You say that like it's no big deal. First of all, I doubt we even have the technology to build a time machine in this day and age, let alone the knowledge it would require. Unless...

I leaned forward, looking past Koizumi and Haruhi to Miss Asahina. "Do you know how to make a new TPDD?"

She shook her head. "I only know the basic theory of how they work. I have no idea how to actually assemble one. Our computers are... well, it's classified, but I'm not very good with the type of computers you use in this time."

Just as I thought. Even without her TPDD, she's still brainwashed beyond the ability to help us.

"What about you, Kuyoh?" Tachibana asked. "Do you know how to construct a time machine?"

"It is impossible," she said. "I am no longer able to create the necessary technology. I also do not... fully understand—your method of time travel."

In other words, we're right back where we started. It was strange to hear someone like Kuyoh say she didn't understand something, though. Was that also Kimidori's doing? Dammit. We were essentially up against a god. The only reason we were still alive was because she didn't even see us as a threat. Of course she'd have made sure Kuyoh couldn't help us travel back in time to stop her. She was smart enough to cover her bases, and she knew we wouldn't have the technology to—...

I slammed my hands down on the table and shot to my feet. "Miss Asahina!"

"Y-Yes?!"

"What sort of parts do we need?"

"Wha? Uh, that's classified! I can't—"

"A metal rod, covered in lines that look sort of like a spiderweb!" I said, leaning forward across the table. "Does that sound like something we could use?"

Her eyes widened, and though she obviously wasn't allowed to say, the look of shock on her face told me I'd hit the nail on the head.

Haruhi stood as well. "Hold it. What the heck are you talking about? Do you actually know where we can get parts for a time machine?"

I moved back and sat down, resisting the urge to laugh at myself. I hadn't told anyone else about the strange object Miss Tsuruya had dug up back in February, and to be honest, it had slipped to the back of my mind. I'd had a feeling that it would be important someday, though, and it looked like that day had finally arrived. Kimidori may have gotten rid of the TPDDs, but if it's just a circuit we're talking about, it might still be there. I doubt she even realized it exists.

"I'm afraid I don't follow," Koizumi said. "Are you saying you have access to some kind of future technology?"

I couldn't be sure. Miss Asahina did say their computers exist like thoughts in their heads, rather than physical machines; if this is part of a TPDD, it would have to be a pretty old one, by their standards. "Maybe. It's a long story, but I have something we can at least call a lead. Miss Asahina, do you think I could borrow your phone for a minute?"

She reached for her pocket, then froze. "I don't have it," she said. "I forgot, it's still at Miss Nagato's apartment. We left in such a hurry, I didn't have time to grab it."

Oh, I forgot. I'd been using my phone as a light at the time Kimidori showed up, but everyone else had been sleeping. "Then, I don't suppose you know Miss Tsuruya's number by heart?"

* * *

I'd been lucky. Another minute or two later, and the first break of the school day would have ended, leaving us to sit and wait for another chance to call Miss Tsuruya. Even luckier was the fact that her phone was able to take and send pictures, which meant I could show Miss Asahina what the circuit actually looked like without having to go anywhere. Leave it to Miss Tsuruya to carry around a picture of something like that on her phone.

"Of course I do!" she'd said. "Isn't it megas mysterious? Don't worry, I promise I haven't shown it to anyone, if that's what you're worried about!"

I hung up as quickly as possible to avoid getting a headache, and as soon as I got the picture, I headed inside to show the others.

"How about it?" I asked, holding my phone up so Miss Asahina could see. "Is this something we could use?"

She was stunned. "Ah! That's a classified information! B-But how did Tsuruya get one? And why do you know about it?"

I explained that I'd had Miss Tsuruya go back and dig where the oddly shaped rock had originally been, and she'd actually found something.

"Unbelievable!" Haruhi said. "I _knew_ there was buried treasure there! Dammit, Kyon, we could have found a mysterious alien artifact if you hadn't messed things up!"

Hey, I was just following instructions! Besides, if you'd found it, it'd probably be all dinged up and worthless by now. At least the Tsuruya family was able to keep it in good condition.

Miss Asahina sulked. "This is helpful, but it won't do us any good by itself. Even if we knew how to assemble a TPDD, we still don't have a classified information. Uh, I mean..."

My excitement came to a grinding halt. "Wait, you mean there's more? What else is there that doesn't exist yet?"

"Well, you see, TPDD stands for classi— wait, no, that won't work. Um..."

"Time Plane Destruction Device."

She looked up at me in surprise. "H-How did you know that?"

I couldn't resist. "That's classified."

That seemed to satisfy her. Who knows? Maybe she was used to hearing it from her superiors just as much as she said it to us.

"It works by creating a small classified information in the time plane, then using a classified information to send classified information through." She pointed to the picture. "This part can classified information the classified information, but there's no way for it to create the classified information to send it through."

Alright, I'm pretty sure you're just screwing with me now.

"I think I understand," Koizumi said.

What? _How?_

"She's saying this piece can send data, for lack of a better term, through time. However, for it to work, we need another device that creates an opening for that information to pass through. Fujiwara mentioned the fact that the TPDD leaves holes in the time plane, isn't that right?"

Miss Asahina lowered her head, then gave a slight nod. I remembered Fujiwara explaining the same thing to me during a group meeting, but how the hell had Koizumi figured it out based on one passing comment and a series of 'classified information's? Have I been underestimating him this whole time?

The conversation fell silent once again. I noticed Haruhi staring ahead with a dazed look on her face, but it was probably best to leave her be. She was probably just overwhelmed by all of this.

After an awkward thirty seconds or so, Sasaki broke the silence.

"What about Fujiwara?"

You're kidding, right, Sasaki? Fujiwara? The guy who tried to kill Haruhi? The sneering bastard who took advantage of us to try and change the course of history? _That_ Fujiwara? If you think I'm going to him for help, you're sorely mistaken. I'm grinding my teeth together just thinking about it.

Koizumi seemed to share the sentiment. "I don't think going to him for help would be the best idea, considering what happened last time."

"Agreed," I said. "We can find Kimidori without his help. There's no way I'd come crawling back to him like that."

Sasaki sighed. "I thought you might say that, I just—"

"And who the hell do you think put _you_ in charge?"

Haruhi stood, glaring at me. "In case you forgot, _I'm_ the brigade leader, Kyon. I give the orders around here! And if this Fujiwara guy might be able to help us get Yuki back, then I say we go see what he has to offer. We owe it to her to try."

"I'm glad you agree," Sasaki said, smiling. Haruhi and Sasaki on the same side? Yeah, no. It doesn't matter what I say. Trying to stop them would be like trying to fight a Super Saiyan with my hands tied behind my back.

"But there's still no guarantee he'll be able to help us," Tachibana said. "We don't even know for sure if he's still in this time. He could have gone back to the future months ago."

There has to be some other way. I looked to Kuyoh, desperate for alternatives. "Isn't there anything else we can do? Maybe Kimidori's hiding inside a data jurisdiction. Or what about the scorch marks we saw on the pier? It looked like a rocket had taken off from it. Does that give you any clues?"

"None."

Come on now, you didn't even try.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to," Tachibana said. "I could try to talk to him and see what we can work out..."

Yeah, no. Sorry, but I don't feel comfortable leaving things up to you, considering your track record.

"Then how about this," Koizumi said. "Let's start by giving him a call and seeing if he's still in this time. If he is, we can find out whether or not he'd be able to help us track down the other parts we need to build a working TPDD. Who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky and find that his wasn't taken to begin with."

I don't know if I'd call our enemy having an extremely powerful piece of technology 'lucky'.

"Relax, Kyon." Haruhi grinned. "If he tries anything, I'll show him who he's really messing with. Besides, I want to see the guy who tried to kill me and confront him head-on."

I sighed inwardly. Of course you do, Haruhi. "What about you, Kuyoh? Are you still on his side, or what?" She'd been loyal to Fujiwara several months ago, but after things fell apart, it was hard to say whether or not she'd still do what he said.

"The current threat level is unknown, but high," she said. "The Data—Integration Thought... Entity must not be allowed to remain in possession of this ability."

"I take it that means you'll cooperate."

"Our goals are similar."

Oh man. Were we really going to go through with this? "I give up," I said. "Just do whatever you want. Whatever gets Nagato back the fastest." If I'm lucky, maybe it'll give me a chance to break his nose.

Nagato had gone through much, much worse for me, after all. If I really thought about it, it would be incredibly selfish to avoid Fujiwara's help just because I didn't want to see his smirking face. We owed it to her to do everything in our power, even if the thought of it made me sick to my stomach.

Fujiwara, you'd better cooperate, or there'll be hell to pay.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: For reference, Yamada Denki is a big electronics retailer in Japan. I wanted so badly to use Radio Shack, but they don't appear to have any Japanese locations. D:**

**As always, I appreciate any feedback I can get, good or bad, especially regarding the more recent characters. Thank you to everyone who's read this story so far. Chapter seven is the longest one so far, so I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

Fujiwara's phone was no longer in service.

Tachibana tried calling him from my phone, just in case it was some sort of error on her end, but it was no use. If the sneering bastard was still living in this time, he was doing so without a cell phone.

"It's possible he just changed his number," Sasaki said. "Maybe he wanted to drop off the radar after his plan fell apart."

Sorry to say it, but I think it's more likely that he just went back to the future. I can't imagine what would keep him here other than his plans involving Haruhi, and those fell through a while ago.

"That's true, but there's still a chance he simply didn't want to be contacted," Koizumi said.

Tachibana sighed. "Then we'll just have to check his apartment."

When you say 'we', who exactly are you referring to?

"Alright then, how about this?" Koizumi said. "Miss Tachibana, Miss Sasaki, and myself can head over to Fujiwara's apartment. In the meantime, the rest of you can try to get your hands on that circuit Miss Tsuruya dug up. How does that sound?"

Haruhi wasn't having it. "Hold it. I want to track this guy down, too."

No way! Did you miss the part where he tried to kill you? It's too dangerous. We aren't even sure whether or not he still has his TPDD.

She glared at me. "If he has a time machine, does it really matter what we do? You can't surprise someone who knows the future, Kyon. Besides, we already agreed that he's probably powerless right now. This is our chance! If we all go together, we can really scare the crap out of him!"

"Miss Tsuruya's still in school anyway, isn't she?" Sasaki asked. "Would there even be anyone home to let us in?"

Oh, I'm sure there would be a maid or butler, but I doubt they'd just let us take the circuit and leave without Miss Tsuruya being there to say it's okay.

Tachibana clapped her hands together. "Then it's settled. We'll all go check Fujiwara's place together. We can worry about getting the circuit after we find him."

Why did I ever agree to this meeting? Once the three of these girls agree on a course of action, you might as well put it in the history books. Miss Asahina, you'll sympathize with me, won't you?

With that matter settled, the seven of us piled into a couple of identical black taxis and set off for the sneering bastard's apartment. Koizumi was the only guy in the group besides me, so the fact that I ended up crammed next to him meant my luck had to be extraordinarily bad. If there is a god, he's playing with a loaded die.

* * *

When we arrived, the apartment building looked surprisingly normal. In fact, it looked downright cheap. For all his condescending talk, the guy sure lived modestly.

It didn't have a call box like Nagato's place, so Tachibana led the way inside. As we followed her, Miss Asahina gave me a concerned look.

"Hey, don't worry," I said. "We have Kuyoh on our side, remember? She's way more powerful than that pompous ass, even with a TPDD."

She sighed. "I guess so."

We stopped in front of apartment 205, and Tachibana knocked on the door. For some reason, the address felt vaguely familiar, but I'd definitely remember coming out to a place like this before. I'd chalk it up to deja vu.

Several seconds passed with no sound from within the apartment. Koizumi tried knocking next. "Excuse me, Fujiwara? If you're there, we'd _really_ appreciate it if you'd open the door."

Anyone familiar with Koizumi could probably sense the underlying hostility in his voice. It was his way of saying "Open the door, or we'll open it for you".

"We could try looking in through the window," Haruhi said.

How? We're on the second floor. If you have the equipment to repel down from the rooftop and look inside, by all means, be my guest.

"Actually—"

Not you, Koizumi.

He was about to try knocking again when a voice spoke from behind us.

"Well, isn't this a surprise."

We turned in unison, like something out of a poorly directed TV drama. Next to the stairway door was Fujiwara, standing with a bag of groceries in his hand. I felt Koizumi grip my shoulder, and realized I'd been clenching my fists.

"Are you aware of the situation?" Koizumi asked.

Fujiwara just scoffed and took out his key. "Certainly more than you are. I knew you'd come here soon, but I didn't think you'd bring such a mob with you."

The bastard didn't even acknowledge me, or Haruhi for that matter. His eyes were focused solely on Koizumi. "Hurry up and get inside," he said, opening the door.

The apartment was a mess. It was clear from the dozens of instant ramen cups lying around that he was living on a tight budget. Maybe whoever was supporting him in the future had pulled the plug after his stunt last April.

"Why don't you mind your own business?" he snapped, setting the grocery bag down on the table. "I do what I have to do."

That's code for "I'm broke, but I don't want to hear it from you."

Once everyone was inside, Haruhi stepped forward to look Fujiwara up and down. She turned to Koizumi. "So this is the guy who tried to have me killed?"

"Yes, that would be him."

"I see."

What followed was one of the most satisfying things I've ever had the opportunity to witness. Haruhi stepped forward and drove a knee up into Fujiwara's crotch, and as he doubled over, she slammed her elbow into the back of his neck. If Koizumi and Tachibana hadn't stepped forward to restrain her, she probably would have kept going.

"Miss Suzumiya! Please, stop!"

She struggled for a moment longer before deciding she'd done enough damage. "Now we're even," she said. "But if you ever try anything like that again, I won't hold back."

I tried really hard, but I couldn't stop the grin that was spreading across my face. As much as I'd wanted to get in a hit or two myself, seeing Haruhi do it was the next best thing.

Fujiwara struggled to his hands and knees. "...damn... bitch..."

And once again, the espers were forced to hold Haruhi back. Fujiwara got to his feet, using the table for support. "What makes you think I'm going to help you now?"

"Excuse me," Tachibana said, "but we really need to confirm... Do you still have your TPDD?"

Fujiwara's face became grim, and he slowly moved to sit on the couch. "If that's what this is about, then yours must be gone too, right?" he said, glancing to Miss Asahina.

She nodded. "Y-Yes, that's right. It was taken by Miss Kimidori."

Hey, don't reveal any more than you have to!

"No, it's fine," Koizumi said. "We can't really explain the nature of the situation if we try to hide the fact that Miss Suzumiya's lost her powers."

Fujiwara seemed genuinely surprised. "Seriously? Did Kimidori do that, too? Looks like things are really working out for you, then."

God dammit, now he's really pissing me off! "Wipe that smirk off your face. This is serious. Nagato's in trouble, and trust me, you don't want to be the one thing standing in the way of us getting her back."

Fujiwara just laughed. "I really couldn't care less about your little alien friend, but as it stands, my TPDD is missing, too. And there's no way I'm going to waste the rest of my life in this shithole."

"Then it sounds like you'll be willing to help us," Koizumi said, smiling as if he was oblivious to the tension in the room. "That's wonderful. What we really need is someone who knows how to build a new TPDD. Otherwise, we seem to have no way of finding out where Miss Kimidori has run off to."

Fujiwara rubbed his face and shook his head. "That's your plan? You've got to be kidding. That kind of technology won't be available for years."

Years? Don't you know anything about building one? You always act like you're three steps ahead of everyone else, but I guess it's all talk.

"Tch. Of course I know how to assemble one, but that's only if we have all the parts, and the most important ones haven't been invented yet."

"We have access to one of them," Koizumi said. Taking my cue, I pulled up the picture on my phone and handed it to Fujiwara.

His eyes widened noticeably for a moment, but he recovered his cocky tone before responding. "It's helpful, but there's one other part we'd need. Something you wouldn't be able to build out of scrap from an electronics store. Without that, it's completely useless."

"That's not necessarily true, though, is it?"

It was the first time Sasaki had spoken up in a while. "What do you mean?"

"Based on what Miss Asahina told us and what Koizumi was able to figure out, we're missing the part that punches a hole in the time plane, correct? The one we have merely sends the data through."

Fujiwara crossed his arms. "That's right. Most of us merely go back and repair the damage caused by the holes, to keep your present from falling apart. So what's your point?"

She didn't seem fazed by his attitude. "If what I was told about the events of last night is true, one of these holes should still exist, shouldn't it?"

Sasaki, what the hell are you talking about? The only time we used the—...

"The island!"

Haruhi and I had figured it out at the same time.

"Island?" Fujiwara said. "What island?"

Sasaki, you're a genius! Last night, when Haruhi's closed space fell apart, Miss Asahina took to the remote island. It had been a direct order, too. If the hole made by her TPDD is still there...

Miss Asahina connected the dots. "Ah! We could still use it to travel back to last night, outside Mr. Tamaru's mansion!"

Frankly, I wasn't sure how we could travel back to the same time without bumping into our past selves, but Miss Asahina's excited expression told me it would work out somehow.

"Wait."

Fujiwara had a hand up. "Reusing an existing hole in the time plane is dangerous, even with a modern TPDD. I told you once before, going back to the same point can cause even more damage, let alone using the exact same access point."

What does that mean?

"I'm not going to waste my time trying to explain it to you," he said. "But beyond that, even if we do manage to build some kind of crude TPDD, it's not going to be as sophisticated as the ones we're used to. Years of technological advances have allowed us to reduce the size of the hole to a pinprick; if you do the same thing with a TPDD made out of this time's technology, the hole's going to be a lot bigger and more dangerous."

Miss Asahina, can you translate, please?

She shifted uncomfortably. "Actually, he's right. Using a homemade TPDD in a situation like this would be dangerous. It could cause irreversible damage to the time plane."

I may not be as well-versed as some when it comes to the physics of time travel, but 'irreversible damage' is easy enough to understand. "So we still can't go back?"

The room was quiet for a moment. It seemed like every time we made a breakthrough, it was taken away from us.

"...you'd have to be quick," Fujiwara said. "If you manage to get that girl's powers back, she could repair the damage before it gets out of hand. But if you fail, we're screwed. Maybe Kimidori would fix it for us, maybe she'd just abandon this time plane and move to another, who knows. But whatever happens, it would be have to be settled quickly."

So if we aren't able to get Haruhi's powers back from Kimidori, all of time and space could fall apart. Great. Strangely enough, I think the high stakes of the challenges I've faced so far have desensitized me to this sort of stuff. When the fate of the world rests on your pitching, or your ability to get Haruhi to read a disclaimer at the end of a movie, this sort of danger starts to feel relatively normal.

I turned to Kuyoh. "One more time, do you think you could try to find Kimidori? If there's any way to get Nagato back without gambling the fate of the universe, I'd like to try."

She stared at me for a few seconds before responding. "She cannot be located."

I thought as much. It looks like this is really the only shot we have at finding out where she ran off to with Haruhi's powers.

"W-Wait, I'm not so sure about this."

It was Tachibana. "What do you mean?"

"Do we really have the right to do something like this? What if we can't stop her? It's like we're betting billions of lives just to save this one, you know?"

Betting billions of lives, huh? I guess she's right. There's a lot more at stake here than we have any right to bet, and I'm sure Nagato wouldn't have wanted us to risk so much for her sake.

"Still," I said, "we don't know if it's really that dangerous. Kimidori would probably step in to fix things if they went south, and if we just leave the Data Integration Thought Entity in charge, how long do you think it'd be before it decides to start remodeling reality to suit its needs?"

Sure, it might be a bit of a stretch, but I'm not going to sit here and try to convince Tachibana that rescuing Nagato is a good enough reason to try this. To her, I doubt it would be.

Fujiwara pulled a notepad out of a drawer and started writing. "Personally, anything's better than being stuck here for the rest of my life," he said. "Most of the complex circuitry is in the part you already have. As for the rest, it's all basic stuff." He tore the page out of the notebook and held it out toward Koizumi, but Haruhi grabbed it first. After skimming over the contents of the list, she looked up at him.

"Is this some kind of joke? How could any of these things be used in a time machine?"

"I'm not just going to duct tape them together, you idiot. They contain the rest of the materials I need."

Everyone was gathering around Haruhi at this point, and I managed to get a peek at the list. A 2200-watt microwave, a 3G cell phone, a laptop, a remote-controlled car, and a 20,000-watt generator. Is he screwing with us? It looks like he's just trying to get some free stuff. And what the hell does '3G' mean?

"Like I said, that's what I need. Do you want my help or not?"

Koizumi took the list from Haruhi and looked it over. "Of course we do," he said. "I'm sure the Organization has enough funds to cover the cost of these items quite easily. If there's anything we can't find in town, I can make a few calls and see what my associates can do."

"That sounds good," Haruhi said. "We can just use Kyon's laptop."

Hey, says who?

"Oh, quit complaining. It's not like we ever use them anyway. Besides, it's for Yuki."

Sasaki tossed me a worried look, but quickly shifted to match Haruhi's confidence. "Well then, it looks like we have some errands to run. Shall we split up and meet back here when we're finished?"

"That sounds good," Koizumi said. "How will we be dividing up?"

Ever the vigilant leader, Haruhi took charge. "We'll split into three groups. Koizumi, you're the Deputy Chief, so I'm putting you in charge of keeping an eye on Kyon. Make sure he doesn't slack off like he usually does."

As Chief First Member of the SOS Brigade, I'm exercising my right to v—

"Kyoko and Kuyoh can go together, and I'll go with Mikuru and Sasaki. Does that sound good?"

Hold it. No offense, but I'm not really comfortable leaving Tachibana and Kuyoh alone like that.

Tachibana's brow furrowed. "How long is it going to take for you to start trusting me?"

Just as long as it takes for you to convince me to. "Sasaki, why don't you go with Kuyoh? You two seem friendly enough. That'd leave Haruhi with Tachibana and Miss Asahina."

Haruhi crossed her arms. "Hmph. That's fine with me, if you think she can handle herself alone with an alien."

"I'm sure I can," Sasaki said, giving her a bright smile.

Fujiwara's laugh brought our focus back to him. "Ridiculous," he said, staring at Haruhi. "It looks like you've given him a little more influence now that you've found out about your life debt. Are you really simple-minded enough to let something like that influence you?"

Shit! Fujiwara, you bastard, keep your mouth shut!

He seemed surprised. "What, you really hasn't told her? Ahaha! What a farce! If I'd jumped out a third-story window to save someone, I'd sure as hell want them to know about it."

Haruhi looked at Fujiwara incredulously, then shifted her eyes to me. "Kyon, what the heck is he talking about?"

Dammit! I really don't want to go down that road right now. Someone, please, bail me out!

"We're losing focus," Koizumi said. "What matters right now is the task at hand. The sooner we gather these parts, the sooner we can get Miss Nagato back."

Haruhi's eyes shifted back to the list. "I guess you're right..."

Koizumi, if we make it out of this alive, I owe you one.

With that awkward moment behind us, it was decided that Haruhi, Miss Asahina, and Tachibana would track down the microwave and the toy car. Sasaki and Kuyoh would be in charge of finding the cell phone, and Koizumi and I would head up to the school to grab my laptop from the club room.

"I'll let you hang on to this," Haruhi said, handing Koizumi a keyring. "You'll need it to get into the club room. My house key is on there too, so don't lose it!"

Koizumi made a quick call, and when we walked back outside, there were three cabs waiting for us. I had to wonder how many more they had waiting around the corner on the off-chance that we'd need them. Those poor backup drivers, never getting a chance to see any action.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Haruhi giving me a stern look as she got into the back seat of the cab in front of mine. Dammit, Fujiwara, why'd you have to go and say that? Do you have any idea how much trouble you just caused me? If she brings this up again later, I'm pleading the fifth.

* * *

For the first few minutes, it seemed like the ride to school would pass in silence. Koizumi was busy staring out the window, and I wasn't about to strike up a conversation if I didn't have to. It wasn't until we came to a stop at a red light that he finally spoke.

"I'm still not sure why you were so adamantly against Miss Suzumiya knowing what you did for her. Perhaps you could fill me in?"

Just the conversation I didn't want to have. Honestly, I'm not even sure myself. A year ago, I would have jumped at the chance to get a little appreciation for everything I've done. I guess I just figured she'd end up feeling guilty and acting weird about it.

"Oh, so you _don't_ want her to change her behavior? That's a surprise."

"Hey, don't put words in my mouth," I said. "It'd just be a pain if she suddenly started acting different, wouldn't it? Couldn't it destabilize the world or something?"

He gave me that same annoying smile. "It's possible, but it's more likely that she'd settle down a little. I think the fact that you're so hesitant to make her feel guilty speaks volumes about how much you really care about Miss Suzumiya."

Don't say things that'll cause misunderstandings, Koizumi. Haruhi's my friend, but who in their right mind would pick her over the lovely goddess we know as Miss Asahina? Pick any war in the history of mankind, and her smile could have brought it to a peaceful resolution.

He was quiet for a second, then stifled a laugh. "I suppose you may be right. Miss Asahina certainly does have her strong points, but as I've said before, I find Miss Suzumiya rather charming as well. Forgive me if I'm jumping to conclusions, but from where I'm sitting, your supposed feelings for Miss Asahina are awfully convenient."

And just what the hell is _that_ supposed to mean? It's anything but convenient! First of all, she isn't allowed to date anyone from our time. And if we get too close, Haruhi could get pissed and create more closed space. I'm pretty much prohibited from pursuing the Miss Asahina route any further.

"But that's exactly what I'm referring to," he said, sweeping the hair away from his eyes. "She's the perfect scapegoat. You probably remind yourself constantly that she's beautiful, almost angelic. Am I right?"

I grunted and looked out the window. Apparently, he took that as a signal to continue.

"Due to the nature of her mission, any feelings you might have for Miss Asahina can never be returned. Even if she were to fall head over heels in love with you, her position as a time traveler prevents her from forming any lasting relationships with the people in our time."

What are you getting at?

"I'm saying, that frees you up to use her as an alibi. If you did, purely hypothetically, have feelings for Miss Suzumiya, you could deny it to yourself and the rest of us by convincing yourself you're infatuated with Miss Asahina. It's a brilliant form of denial, actually. Since it would be impossible for the two of you to actually date, no one can call your bluff. Not even you."

Hold it. You're just assuming things. Even if your theory technically works, it makes sense to go with the simplest explanation, doesn't it? No matter how you look at it, it's much easier to just say I don't have feelings for Haruhi.

"That's very true. It's a principle called Occam's Razor, though as we've seen with Miss Suzumiya, the simplest solution isn't always the correct one." He shrugged. "But perhaps you're right. In any case, I was merely explaining what it looks like from where I stand."

I don't think anyone was asking for your opinion. Dammit, he really knows how to piss me off sometimes.

* * *

We made a couple of quick stops by our houses to change into our uniforms, then headed for the school. I wasn't sure how we'd get past the gate, let alone make it all the way to the club room.

"Don't worry about the gate," Koizumi said. "That won't be a problem. Our main goal is to avoid running into anyone along the way."

What, they aren't under Organization control, too? I was sure you had everyone from the principal to the janitors wrapped around your finger.

"I'll assume that was sarcasm," he said, opening the car door. "Come on. We need to hurry."

I followed Koizumi to the gate, which was open just enough to let us inside. As we hurried toward the old building, I finally thought to ask,

"Hey, why are you still sucking up to Haruhi? You don't have to anymore, so why bother?"

He glanced back at me. "Oh? Have I ever given you the impression that I'm only kind to Miss Suzumiya because of her abilities?"

We made it to the building, and after checking to make sure the coast was clear, we headed inside.

"Well," he said, "I suppose I just want to make sure she understands that she's the one that matters, not just her powers. If my mannerisms were to suddenly change, or the Organization were to stop supporting her, it would look pretty bad, wouldn't it?"

Huh. I guess you're right.

We arrived at the club room without incident, and Koizumi unlocked the door. It felt empty inside without Miss Asahina brewing tea, or Nagato reading in the corner. When this is all over, I'll never take that sight for granted again.

"Which one was yours?"

Oh, right. The laptop. It didn't really matter to me whose laptop we used, to be honest. All I really had on mine was that game we'd played against the Computer Research Society, and even that had been collecting virtual dust.

With my laptop and its charger in hand, we hurried back to the front gate. It'd be interesting to see how these seemingly random supplies could be combined to form a working time machine. If he attaches it to a DeLorean and says we have to hit 88 miles per hour, I'm quitting. That is, if the others have even found their parts yet.

"Would you like to call them and find out?" Koizumi asked. "I've been meaning to give you Miss Tachibana's phone number anyway."

Sure, I guess. Just as long as she doesn't start calling me up and acting all buddy-buddy with me.

He entered her number in my phone and dialed, then handed it back to me. It took several rings, but she finally picked up.

"Hello? Who's this?"

"It's me," I said.

"Oh, Kyon! I didn't recognize your number. I'll be sure to save your contact information!"

In that case, my actual name is—

"Here, I'll give the phone to Miss Suzumiya."

Wait, no!

There was a brief shuffling noise, followed by Haruhi's voice.

"Hey, what's up?"

Dammit. Why does she just assume I want to talk to Haruhi?

"Well," I said, "we got the laptop. How are things going with you guys?"

"The toy car was easy, but we're still looking for a microwave. Apparently 2200 watts is a lot, so they're not as common. But don't worry, we'll find one!"

At least they were halfway there, even if it was the easy half. "I see. Have you heard from Sasaki?"

"No, not yet. I hope she's not getting sidetracked looking at phones."

Of course not. She's not like you, Haruhi.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. I'll call her and see what's up. Want us to come help you look for a microwave?"

"That sounds good. We're at Yamada Denki. Call us when you get here! Over and out!"

She hung up before I got a chance to respond, not that it really mattered. "They're at Yamada Denki looking for a microwave," I said. "Let's meet up with them there."

Once we were on the road again, I called Sasaki to get an update from her end. She and Kuyoh only had to get a cell phone, and with Kuyoh's powers, it was hard to imagine that they'd fail.

"Hey, Kyon," she said. "We've got some bad news. One of the employees at the store we're at said '3G' is a new type of cell network. It's still being tested, and it won't be available to the general public until later this year."

You're kidding.

"I'm afraid not. Kuyoh keeps asking me to define 3G before she'll make one, and I don't really understand what the difference is to begin with. Oh, hold on..."

Dammit. Why would the sneering bastard ask for something like that? If it's not something that exists yet, shouldn't he be the first one to know?

"Hey, Kyon. The employee we're talking to says they're doing 3G network tests in Tokyo and Yokohama, but only a few thousand phones have been released."

Tokyo? Yokohama? It'd take hours to reach either of them. "Hey, Koizumi," I said. "Think the Organization could get its hands on a super-rare type of cell phone?"

His eyebrows shot up. "Well, I can certainly try. Would you mind letting me talk to Miss Sasaki for a moment?"

I handed him the phone, and he spent a few minutes getting details from Sasaki and the sales rep. Once he was done, he made another call on his own phone to see what he could do. I swear, if we survive this, I'll never take the Organization for granted again.

Well, not for a couple of weeks, at least.

About fifteen minutes later, our entire group had reunited inside Yamada Denki. Haruhi had managed to find a suitable microwave, which ended up costing nearly 200,000 yen. Did people seriously pay that much just to be able to heat things up thirty seconds faster?

"They're supposed to be for commercial use," Haruhi said. "That thirty seconds adds up when you've got a bunch of customers waiting."

Still, that's a lot of money for a microwave. But with that checked off our list, all that was left was the generator and the cell phone, both of which had to be acquired by the Organization. Something had been bothering me, though. If Kimidori was essentially all-powerful now, shouldn't she be able to just snap her fingers and know what we were up to? Why hadn't we encountered any resistance yet? It didn't add up. Out of the presumably dozens of humanoid interfaces under the Data Integration Thought Entity's control, surely one of them would have been sent to follow us. Is it because Kuyoh's somehow protecting us? Or does the thought entity just not see us as a threat?

We _are_ a threat, right?


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I have to apologize for the delay in this chapter. Life happened. xD Hopefully, the slightly longer-than-average chapter helps make up for it. If I write another fanfiction after this, I'll probably stick with a weekly or twice-weekly schedule.**

**As always, I greatly appreciate any feedback you folks leave. That's how you improve, right? So if something doesn't sit right with you, feel free to let me know. As the plot incorporates a bit more from the original novels and thus becomes more complicated, I can't help but worry that I'll miss a detail somewhere that ends up throwing a wrench into my plans.**

**I hope you enjoy chapter eight. Thank you to everyone who's been reading so far, and an extra thanks to Uberlemming for calling me out and holding me accountable character-wise. :D**

* * *

"Kyon, are you even listening?"

I jerked my head up to look across the table at Haruhi. "Huh? Oh, sorry. I guess I wasn't."

"Jeez. You need to pay attention! This is important."

Somehow I doubt that.

After meeting up at the electronics store, the seven of us had decided to grab some lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant. If King Arthur had the Knights of the Round Table, we'd be the Knights of the Lazy Susan.

"I'm talking about our plans for the summer," she said. "Once we get Yuki back, we're going to do at least twice as much as we did last year! I'm talking big, epic adventures, the likes of which this club has never seen before!"

Koizumi, Miss Asahina and I exchanged concerned glances. We hadn't talked much about how we were going to handle Haruhi and her powers once she got them back, but I don't think it'd be a good idea for her to remain aware of her godlike status. The longer things went on, though, the more I was starting to dislike the idea of just wiping her memory. It was nice to not have to tiptoe around her, and having her as an acting member of our team made things feel more complete.

Haruhi picked up on our apprehension. "What's wrong? You guys don't seem very excited about all this... Oh, don't worry. We'll get Yuki back, I'm sure of it."

That's not what's bothering us, but I'm glad you're staying optimistic.

"Anyway, we need to decide what we're going to encounter first. Maybe the ghost of a woman who's out for revenge after being horribly murdered, or a giant monster that drags people away in the middle of the night to turn them into one of its fiendish henchmen!"

On second thought, maybe wiping her memory isn't such a bad idea.

As Haruhi went on, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Tachibana had been trying to make eye contact with me. As soon as I returned it, she gave a couple of quick glances to Sasaki. Oh, no. I know what you're thinking. She already said she doesn't want that kind of power, and even if I thought it was a good idea, I wouldn't want to force it on her, so you can just forget it.

She sulked for a second, but perked up when Koizumi's phone started ringing. The conversation died as everyone waited for him to answer.

"Hello?... Yes... Oh, that's wonderful! How long do you think it'll be?... I see. I can't thank you enough, Mr. Tamaru."

He hung up, then just smiled at us as if he was waiting for someone to ask. Well, I won't give him the satisfaction!

Haruhi, on the other hand, took the bait. "What was that about?"

"It seems we've acquired both the generator and the cell phone. Over a third of the 3G phones that were issued ended up being recalled due to an error, so getting our hands on one was a bit harder than we'd anticipated, but it looks like it all worked out."

"Alright! Way to go, Koizumi! You rock!"

Haruhi, as soon as we get Nagato back, I'm having her install a volume knob on you. And Koizumi, it's been what, an hour? No matter how you look at it, that's still pretty fast.

"How long until they get here?" Sasaki asked.

"It shouldn't be more than an hour or two. In the meantime, perhaps we should head back to Fujiwara's apartment so he can start assembling the rest of our TPDD. Once everyone's finished eating, of course."

I started refilling my plate.

* * *

Unfortunately, Haruhi saw right through me, and shortly thereafter we were back at Fujiwara's apartment. Even though our makeshift TPDD couldn't be completed without the final three pieces, the sneering bastard was at least able to start connecting the pieces we did have. To be honest, I was curious how these seemingly random components could form the framework of a time machine, but it was probably over my head anyway.

"Way over," Fujiwara said. "Even if I tried to explain it, you couldn't begin to understand."

That's probably true, but you're the last person I want to hear it from. "Whatever," I said. "I'm gonna go take a walk to relax."

Koizumi reached for his jacket. "That sounds good. I think I'll join you."

Didn't you hear the part where I said I wanted to relax?

He just laughed. "It's been a while since we've had one of our guy talks. I think there's plenty for us to discuss."

Luckily, everyone else was fully engrossed in the construction of the TPDD. Everyone but Kuyoh, that is. So far, all he'd really done was take the toy car apart and connect a bunch of wires to the laptop, but that was enough to keep Haruhi distracted for a while longer. "Fine, let's go."

* * *

"Wonderful weather, isn't it?"

It's hot and humid. And you don't have to waste your time making small talk. I know you didn't tag along just to chat about the weather.

He feigned surprise. "It looks like you've seen through me once again. You do seem a bit less patient than usual, though. Perhaps Miss Suzumiya is starting to rub off on you?"

No. Oh, god, anything but that.

"Of course, I'm only joking. But you are correct that I had another topic in mind when I decided to join you on this walk."

I sighed. "Alright. I'll play along. Is it about Miss Suzumiya?"

"It's about Miss Suzumiya."

No surprise there. Even when she's not special at all, she's _still_ special. "What about her?"

He took on a more serious tone. "Assuming Miss Kuyoh is able to restore her abilities, we'll then face the dilemma of what to do about her memories."

It only took about a minute of conversation for Koizumi to say what was on his mind. That had to be a record. "Well, once Nagato's back, she can just erase the whole thing from Haruhi's mind, can't she?"

Koizumi looked up at the sky. "It's possible. But in order for that to work, we have to trust that this reality will be able to survive Miss Suzumiya being in possession of and aware of her powers long enough to revive Miss Nagato. Our understanding of the situation is just too limited to say that with certainty. It's possible that her innermost desires would be fully realized the moment the transfer is complete."

I'm not sure if that's how it works. It seems to me that Haruhi should at least have some conscious control over it, shouldn't she?

"That may be the case. It's a scenario we've never been able to observe, so we really have no idea what will happen."

Well, what are our alternatives? I hope you're not considering leaving Kimidori in charge.

"Of course not. In fact, I'd say we're in more danger than ever now that our existence rests in the hands of a being that has no real interest in us. Our world could be wiped out at any moment. It's actually quite scary."

You're telling me.

"It would be better if we could erase Miss Suzumiya's memories beforehand. If Miss Suoh were to make her forget about everything she's learned, we could leave her behind, out of harm's way, and transfer her powers back after Miss Suoh has defeated Miss Kimidori."

So take Haruhi out of the equation entirely. That would probably save us a lot of headaches, but wouldn't it be dangerous to leave her alone like that?

He was quiet for a moment. "You'd think so, wouldn't you? Actually, that's been bothering me for a while now. I'm a bit concerned that we haven't seen more opposition by now."

So it wasn't just me. Either Kimidori didn't think it was necessary to keep an eye on us, or she didn't think it was necessary to intervene. As much as I hoped it was an oversight on her part, I couldn't get myself to believe it.

"Oh, so you've realized it, too. I asked Miss Suoh if we're being followed by any other interfaces, and she said we aren't. In fact, she can't seem to locate any of them."

Any of them? Does that mean the Data Integration Thought Entity is able to keep itself hidden completely now that it has Haruhi's powers?

"That's a good question."

We finally stopped at an intersection. Rather than waiting for the light to change and let us pass, I decided to turn around and start heading back.

"By the way," I said, "have you told Haruhi about last summer?"

"I haven't. I was sort of hoping I could leave most of the explaining to you."

Why should I have to do it? You're the one who's always talking my ear off. Try aiming it at her for a bit.

For once, his laugh seemed genuine. "Maybe I should. I could probably explain everything pretty clearly, actually. No, perhaps I should rephrase what I said. I'm not asking you to explain things to her, I'm asking you to _tell_ her about it."

Yeah, Koizumi? Those are the same thing.

The rest of our walk was awkwardly silent. When we got back to the sneering bastard's apartment, Haruhi was waiting for us.

"There you guys are! Where the heck have you been? Fujiwara's got the laptop all set up for when we get the rest of the parts!"

No way! He did it that fast?

The laptop screen was displaying a bunch of meaningless numbers and letters; I couldn't make heads or tails of it. A mass of tangled wires was plugged into every available USB port, and the whole thing sat atop a half-gutted microwave with an antenna sticking out.

It looked like something my little sister might come up with if I asked her to draw a time machine.

Fujiwara scoffed. "I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand the interactions going on here. It's designed for functionality, not elegance. If you wanted something prettier, I'd need resources beyond the primitive garbage available in your time."

You know, you could come up with a much better alias than Fujiwara. How about Malfoy?

Sasaki leaned in to examine where the antenna attached to the microwave. "So this thing can really send us back in time?" she asked. "Once you add the other parts, of course."

"That's the plan."

Miss Asahina seemed uncomfortable. "But, how do you know how to make something like this? We didn't really talk about physical TPDDs in training, not since... What I mean is, we don't use them anymore, so how do you know how to build one?"

Wait a second.

"That's none of your business," he said. "It's not like it would matter if I told you, anyway."

_Wait a second._

It finally clicked. Apartment 205. I mentally repeated the full address in my head, just to make sure I was right. No wonder it had felt so familiar. Back in February, after encountering the sneering bastard for the first time, I'd mailed a partially damaged memory chip to an unknown address. Nagato had said it contained important information that would allow humans to travel through time, but chunks of the data had been corrupted. I'd never have imagined I'd end up mailing it to this arrogant bastard. Did he even have a way to read it? And if he did, is that how he knows how to build a TPDD? Just how far ahead had the older Miss Asahina been planning?

At any rate, I'll wait until later to tell the current Miss Asahina about it. If I tried to bring it up now, Haruhi would hit me with a barrage of questions.

* * *

Time was passing agonizingly slowly now that we were back to playing the waiting game. Fujiwara had retreated to his bedroom, which was fine by me. The less I see of that bastard's face, the better. The main issue was that Haruhi had gone back into question and answer mode. She had two espers, a time traveler, and an alien all under the same roof, and she wasn't letting that opportunity go to waste.

If there's anything I've learned to do in the past year or so, though, it's tune Haruhi out. Sorry, everyone, but if I'm a part of this conversation, it's only a matter of time before she asks me about what Fujiwara said earlier. I'll just use this chance to take a quick nap...

"Kyon, wake up."

That's not fair. I had only halfway dozed off!

"What are you talking about? You were snoring," Haruhi said. "Koizumi's friends are here with the generator, and we need your help bringing it inside."

Begrudgingly, I got to my feet and shuffled out the door. Why was I more tired now than I had been before?

Outside, a white van was parked in front of the apartment building. A couple of men got out, and I quickly recognized them as the Tamaru brothers. Despite what Koizumi always says about the Organization having a lot of members and influence, it seems like I only see the same few members over and over.

"It's good to see you again," Mr. Yutaka said. "Kyon, was it? We've got this thing all fueled up and ready to go."

That was handy, but as we each took a corner and lifted the thing, I found that a full tank of fuel only made our job harder. The generator had to be at least several times my body weight.

Miss Asahina hurried back toward the building. "A-Ah! Let me get the door!"

Oh, please, don't trouble yourself! You don't need to—

Dammit. Now I can't even think like that without Koizumi's words coming back to haunt me.

We eventually got the generator into Fujiwara's apartment, where we could finally set it down. My hands were red from gripping the edges, but at least I was more awake now.

"Oh, and here's the phone you asked for," Mr. Keiichi said, holding out a small box. "I'm told it was quite a hassle to find one like that."

Koizumi smiled and took the box. "I see. Thank you for all of your help, both of you."

Now all we needed was the cylindrical circuit from Miss Tsuruya's place.

"Shouldn't school be letting out soon?" Tachibana asked. "We could meet up with her while Fujiwara incorporates the phone and the generator into the TPDD."

"There's no point in all of us going," I said. Besides that, it didn't feel right bringing everyone to Miss Tsuruya's home. They probably already knew where it was, but on the off-chance that they didn't, I'd hate to get her mixed up in all this.

In the end, it was me, Haruhi, and Miss Asahina who ended up going. Miss Asahina because she was Miss Tsuruya's best friend, me because I felt responsible for involving her in the first place, and Haruhi because it would have otherwise been just me and Miss Asahina. I guess some things never change.

* * *

"Heya Mikuru! I was worried when you didn't show up for class today, nyoro. It must have been something important for you to all skip school together, right? You should invite me next time!"

Ah, Miss Tsuruya, your boundless energy would actually be somewhat refreshing if not for the fact that I spend day after day with an equally energetic and far more insufferable girl.

The circuit was kept in a vault toward the center of the Tsuruya residence. We weren't allowed to go inside; instead, she went in and brought out the glass case that contained the rod. It ended up being a bit bigger than I'd thought, probably closer to fifteen centimeters than ten.

Miss Asahina was in awe. "I can't believe you had something like this all this time," she said. "But, how much... Um... Do you...?"

"All I know is it's something you guys need, right? That's all that really matters, so you can just take it!"

That's right. Miss Tsuruya had realized something was strange about the members of the SOS Brigade a while back, but she didn't really know any details. Maybe after this was over, Miss Asahina would be able to let her in on the secret.

After saying goodbye, we headed back to Fujiwara's apartment. Miss Asahina sat in the front seat, leaving the circuit in its case between me and our beloved brigade leader.

"So who _did _tell you where to dig?"

Crap! Come on, Haruhi. You ask me that _now?_ I'd be happy to tell you, but I can't with Miss Asahina sitting right there. "I... can't say. Not right now, anyway. Why don't we talk about it in private later?"

She sighed. "Fine."

Success!

Wait, no! That's not what I wanted! If we talk in private, I know exactly what she's going to ask me about next. Dammit, why did I have to say that?

By the time we got back to the apartment, Fujiwara had already finished working the phone and the generator into the makeshift TPDD. Not that there was much to do, mind you. The generator was presumably for power, so all he really had to do was plug it in.

"Hah! If only it were that simple," he said. "Did you bring the circuit?"

Haruhi held the case out, letting everyone get a good look at the mysterious piece that made our entire plan possible. "Tada! I don't know how it works, but here it is. Now hurry up and finish this thing. You've got thirty seconds!"

Fujiwara took the case, gritting his teeth the whole time. I won't lie, it was satisfying to see him getting so frustrated and not being able to do anything about it.

I sat back on the couch while we waited for Fujiwara to do whatever it was he was going to do. The laptop's casing had been pried open, and it looked like the cell phone had been haphazardly jammed inside. I could only assume there was a more complicated interaction taking place within.

"It's fascinating, isn't it?"

I looked up at Sasaki, who was standing over me. "Oh, yeah," I said, "I just hope it actually works."

"Me too. I think he knows what he's doing, though. Personally, I don't think I'm really needed here. I'm not much use, you know?"

At least you have some sort of power. Even if it's only creating closed space, it's better than nothing.

"You think so? Honestly, I'd rather not have anything to do with it. It seems like there's too much risk involved."

You can say that again.

* * *

"Alright, that should do it."

Fujiwara stood back, arms crossed. "It's rickety, but it'll get the job done."

Haruhi leaned in to get a closer look. "You're serious? It's really done? How far back can we go?"

"Weren't you paying attention?" he asked. "We have to use the same access point you used last time."

Tachibana looked up at the ceiling in thought. "Speaking of which, where did you say it was, again?"

The hole in the time plane? Let's see. We'd been running through Haruhi's closed space, and we took refuge in an alley, and then...

"Wait," I said, "so we're going to have to leave from that alleyway? That's a little... public, don't you think?"

"What the hell do you want me to do?" Fujiwara snapped. "I don't make the rules here. None of us do. That's what it's going to take, so you'll just have to get used to it."

Well, we could probably hide from view without too much effort. Kuyoh might even be able to make us invisible or something.

Wait a second. We're going to have to move this thing _again?_

* * *

The good news is, Haruhi helped us load the TPDD, which was even heavier now that it was fully assembled, back into the van. The bad news is, her idea of "helping" involves barking orders and not actually lifting a finger herself. Still, it was worth it to see Fujiwara struggling to hold up his corner of the generator. I wasn't doing much better, mind you, but I'm pretty sure my arms weren't shaking as much as his. I'd asked Kuyoh if she could just teleport us to the alley all at once, but she said it was best to avoid using her powers as much as possible. Apparently, it would be some kind of red flag to the Data Integration Thought Entity's other interfaces, wherever they were.

As if that wasn't enough, Fujiwara had insisted on coming with us. I didn't trust him for a second, but as it stood, he was the only one who knew how to operate our pathetic excuse for a time machine.

"Isn't it better this way, though?" Koizumi asked. "In medieval times, the king would have a servant taste his food to make sure it wasn't poisoned. The same logic applies here. If Fujiwara is willing to use this TPDD himself, we can assume that it's relatively safe."

What, you think he might have rigged it to send us on a one-way trip to the Paleolithic Era or something?

He shrugged. "I don't think that's possible, but you never know. At any rate, I'm glad he's confident enough in his creation to come along with us."

I guess, but I still wonder about his motives. I seriously doubt he's tagging along just to reassure us.

We were currently on our way to the "access point", as we'd started calling it. I was lucky enough to avoid riding with Haruhi this time around, instead ending up with Koizumi, Tachibana, and Kuyoh. I'd tried to convince Haruhi, Miss Asahina, and Sasaki to stay behind, since they wouldn't really be that useful in the first place, but they'd turned that logic around on me. Then Haruhi went on this rant about how we all needed to be there when we got Nagato back, and how backing out now was treason.

And so, the SOS Brigade and its semi-evil counterpart joined forces with the express purpose of restoring both Haruhi Suzumiya and Yuki Nagato to their former glory.

Of course, I'm not an idiot. Last time we met the sneering bastard, his entire plan had revolved around using Haruhi's powers to alter the timeline, and I'd have to be an idiot to think he'd give up on that so easily. He has something up his sleeve, I'm just not sure what it is.

With those thoughts weighing heavy on my mind, I leaned forward to look over at Tachibana. "Hey. If Fujiwara tries anything, can we count on you to be on our side?"

She seemed surprised, but she didn't hesitate in her response. "Of course. I never would have helped him back then if I'd known what he was planning."

I stared at her for a couple of seconds before I was satisfied. "And what about you, Kuyoh?"

She was the real wild card. Difficult to predict, impossible to read, and the crux of our entire plan. If anything was going to go wrong, she'd be the one who'd either stop it or cause it to happen in the first place.

She looked at me out of the corner of her eye, but didn't say anything.

"You're the only one who can perform the transfer," I said. "If Nagato's brought back, you may still have a shot at communicating. Plus, I doubt you really feel comfortable letting the Data Integration Thought Entity have so much power. Am I right?"

Still no response. Just the same artificial silence.

"I guess what I'm trying to ask you is, can we trust that you'll help us if Fujiwara tries to interfere? I know you were on his side before, but surely you've realized by now that he doesn't really care about your objectives, right? He was just using you."

"—I... understand," she said. "Our goals are the same. I will do my best to help you."

That's all I could really ask for. She could still by lying, but I honestly don't see how the Heavenly Canopy Dominion could be happy with Kimidori in charge. I'd really like to talk to Koizumi about preventing Fujiwara from interfering in the first place, but on the off-chance that Tachibana or Kuyoh _are_ in on it, I can't afford to have that discussion right now.

After what felt like an eternity, our caravan pulled into a parking garage. There was really only one way we were going to be able to pull this off in the middle of the day, but I wasn't too happy about what Koizumi was planning.

"Alright, let's go."

It was probably the first time I did something that actually felt... cool. Sure, all we really did was change vehicles, but the way everyone hurried out of the cabs and into the nondescript white van felt like something out of a spy movie. Not to mention the fact that there was a time machine on board.

Once we were all in, though, it felt a lot less cool. With eight people and a 250 kilogram time machine, it was pretty cramped.

Mr. Keiichi looked back at us. "Everybody hold on tight, okay? We're about to start moving again."

I gripped the handle over the door, and as we started moving, I felt a hand grab the back of my shirt.

"Hold still," Haruhi said, wobbling slightly as we pulled out into the street.

"Hey, are you still sure you wanna do this?" I asked. "It's dangerous. If you're having second thoughts, now's the time to speak up."

She gave me a stern look. "Of course I'm sure. Don't ask stupid questions."

Right. I guess I already knew what her answer would be, anyway. It was pointless to try to dissuade her. Even when the odds are stacked against her, Haruhi is still willing to stick her neck out for her brigade members. It's one of her better qualities.

Stop looking at me like that, Koizumi.

We turned, and a couple of short honks told me we were getting into position. In order for this to work, we had to cut across several lanes of traffic.

Fujiwara held out a cable. "Everybody grab on to this," he said. "That's the only way we'll all make the jump, assuming this works."

Wait, what do you mean "Assuming this works"? You sounded perfectly confident a few minutes ago!

We did as he instructed, each grabbing a portion of the cable. Miss Asahina was whimpering somewhere behind me. She was probably scared out of her mind. Hearing sounds like that coming from an experienced time traveler was a bit disheartening.

"How long do you think we'll have before the hole begins to expand?" Koizumi asked.

"There's no way to know exactly how long it'll take. Less than an hour, for sure. Best case scenario, we might have about thirty minutes."

Thirty minutes to find Kimidori and take Haruhi's powers back. And that's the best case scenario?

"That's plenty of time," Haruhi said. The burning excitement in her voice had died down to a simmer, and was replaced with a sense of determination. It must have been contagious, because I felt a surge of confidence swell up in my chest, too.

The van pulled forward, easing into the alleyway. How far into it had we gone, again? It couldn't have been more than thirty feet.

"Everyone hold on," Fujiwara said. "As soon as we hit the right spot, we'll—"

Before he could finish, a spark of electricity burst from the microwave. I remember feeling my hair stand on end for a second before the world seemed to explode around us.

Then, everything went black.

* * *

**A/N: On a side note, there's a vague Steins;Gate reference in the ingredients of the homemade TPDD. If you haven't seen or read Steins;Gate, definitely check it out. It's a pretty great series.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/****N: Well, this chapter ended up being a bit longer than I anticipated, but I'm fine with that. We're nearing the end of the story, so there was a bit more stuff to pack into this one.**

**A big thank you to everyone who's been reading/reviewing so far. I really appreciate it. As always, if you see any issues, don't hesitate to let me know. Everything from grammar and punctuation to plot and characterization is fair game. Even now, I still hesitate before submitting each new chapter, as if I'll be executed if any problems are found.**

**That said, I hope you enjoy chapter nine.**

* * *

For the first few seconds, I thought I'd lost consciousness. I could remember something exploding, but the blast had been cut off by... whatever black void I was in now. There was no light or sound, and my inner ear couldn't seem to figure out which way was up. It was already starting to make me nauseous.

I'd almost forgotten Haruhi was still holding on to my shirt until she tightened her grip. I still had the cable in my hand as well, which meant we still had a lifeline connecting us to the others. Just in case, though, I reached back and grabbed her arm.

After what felt like an eternity, my ears started working again. Unfortunately, so did gravity, and I found myself slamming face-first into something hard. The world started to spin again, but that was probably less time travel and more blunt force trauma.

It was dark. Too dark to see. I tried to roll over, but something was weighing me down. Judging from the groans all around me, we'd reappeared facing the wrong direction and ended up in a dogpile.

"Ugh, what was that?" Haruhi asked. "I feel like I'm gonna be sick."

She crawled off of my back, allowing me to struggle to my feet. I checked my forehead and didn't find any blood, so at least I have that going for me. Now if only my eyes would cooperate and adjust to the darkness...

"It worked," Tachibana said. "Look."

I couldn't tell which way she was pointing, but it only took me a second to spot Mr. Keiichi's mansion at the top of the hill. The lights were on, which meant our past selves had already arrived and made themselves at home. Lazy bums.

"So it did," Koizumi said, looking around in wonder. "I've been eager to try this for quite some time, but I'll admit was hoping the ride would be a bit less bumpy."

A translucent blue bubble appeared around us, giving off just enough light to see the surrounding area. We were on the pier, right where we'd arrived the first time. The TPDD appeared to be a bit shaken up, but the laptop screen was still glowing, so hopefully it was still functional.

"Protection," Kuyoh said. "Emiri Kimidori will not be able to manipulate the data within this area."

Well that's handy. I guess it's faster than Nagato's biting method, considering how many people we have. Looking down, I realized the concrete around us was scorched, just like it had been when we left earlier that morning.

"It looks like our entry caused a little damage," Koizumi said.

Well, at least that's one mystery solved. Although, if that explosion actually happened, I have to wonder if the Tamaru brothers are alright. There wasn't enough room in that alleyway for them to evacuate the van.

"Are you people done yet?" Fujiwara asked. "We need to hurry. In case you forgot, this time plane is going to start unraveling soon."

We set off for the mansion, Kuyoh's bubble moving along with us. If it was anything like the one Nagato had created when we went back to save my mortally wounded self on December 18th, it probably made us invisible and inaudible, too. I wonder if it can make toast.

"We really did it," Haruhi said. "We traveled back in time. I'm a time traveler!"

Sasaki was almost just as awestruck. "So it would seem," she said. "Did you all really stay here last summer? I need to hang out with your friends more often, Kyon."

Maybe I can use my influence as the Chief First Member of the brigade to get you honorary member status.

We came to a stop in front of the main entrance. The only good thing about walking up that hill—well, it was really more of a mountain—was that it made the daily walk to school seem like nothing. Without any cellular signal, I couldn't tell what time it was, so there was no telling what was going on inside the mansion. "Is Kimidori already in there?" I asked.

"She is. You are currently engaged in combat."

Then... We still had a few minutes before Nagato's data link would be terminated. In that case, isn't it possible for us to just there and stop her before that happens?

"W-We can't!"

Miss Asahina, who had remained mostly silent since we arrived, finally spoke up. "We can't interfere with what we remember happening. If we do, it would..."

"It'd cause a paradox," Fujiwara said. "We'd create a new superposition of time, and... It's just not a good idea, okay? Especially not with the time plane as unstable as it is right now."

So we have to just sit here and let her... And let Nagato die? Just like that?

Koizumi put a hand on my shoulder. "Relax. We're going to save her. We just have to be patient."

My patience has been decreasing for a while now. "Even so, I think..."

Just then, the door opened, and there she was. Emiri Kimidori. The one who'd just terminated Nagato. The one who'd taken Haruhi's powers and become the veritable god of this universe. She was right there, no more than a few arm's lengths away.

She walked right past us.

So I was right about Kuyoh's barrier. It was like she didn't even see us. I wanted to run after her, but I'd only get in the way. Kuyoh was already watching, waiting for any indication that Kimidori was about to do something. I had to watch, too. If I blinked, she could disappear, and we'd never be able to get Nagato back. I wouldn't give her that opportunity.

Once she was about ten meters away from the mansion, Kimidori lifted a hand and held it up in the air as if touching an invisible wall. Then, she stepped forward and disappeared from sight.

To anyone who wasn't familiar with this sort of thing, it would look like she simply vanished into thin air. That's what I could hear Haruhi screaming beside me. But I knew better. Even though I'd only been there a few times myself, I immediately recognized that distinct ripple in the air.

She'd stepped into closed space.

* * *

"What do we do now?" Haruhi demanded. "Where did she go? Someone, say something!"

Koizumi wasn't even trying to keep up the smiling act anymore. "It seems Miss Kimidori has entered closed space."

But whose? Haruhi's? Sasaki's? Or did she create one of her own?

Kuyoh stepped forward to examine the spot where Kimidori had disappeared. After inspecting god knows what for a few seconds, she turned back to us. "Her own."

I looked to Koizumi and Tachibana in desperation, but their faces were grim. "I'm afraid we're unable to follow her," Koizumi said. "My powers only allow me to enter Miss Suzumiya's closed space, and the same rule applies for Miss Tachibana."

Then, Kuyoh?

"The inter-dimensional gap is—too wide... Unable to cross."

Can't you at least _try?_

"Small amounts of data can be transmitted."

Right. That figures. Nagato had said the same thing. Closed space was just too "far away" for interfaces like them to reach. Why espers were able to do it, I hadn't a clue. Without an esper who's specifically linked to Kimidori, we aren't going to be able to follow her. Dammit! We're already out of options, and who knows how long we have before the access point starts to fall apart?

"It's already happening."

Fujiwara had wandered over to the cliff. Where we stood, the pier was out of sight, but the cliff offered a full view.

Maybe if I hurried, I could push him off.

We gathered around the edge to see what he was looking at. I couldn't really make it out myself, but there was a reddish glow coming from the pier. It was shimmering, almost like a mirage. I had no idea what it was, but Miss Asahina was visibly starting to panic.

"Okay, what's that?" Tachibana asked.

"Time and space are curving, and gravity is warping. What you're seeing is the light from the laptop screen being distorted and slowed down. Don't you get it? This whole world is about to start falling apart." His voice was getting more tense, more afraid. "It's exactly what I said would happen. I warned you about this. I _warned_ you."

I wanted to punch him, but there wasn't any time to waste. There had to be some way out of this mess. We always figured _something_ out, right? What we really needed was a slider, someone capable of jumping freely from one dimension to another, but we haven't met any of those yet. The closest thing we have right now is Tachibana, and the only dimension she can enter is Sasaki's closed space.

Wait a second.

"Tachibana. Sasaki's closed space encompasses the entire world, right?"

She cocked her head to the side. "That's right. It's everywhere."

Then we just might have a shot. I turned to Kuyoh. "You may not be able to make the jump from here, but what if we tried from a better location?"

"B-But, this is where she went in, isn't it?" Miss Asahina asked.

Oh, surely you can follow along, can't you?

Koizumi caught on quickly. "I think he's suggesting that Miss Tachibana narrow the gap by taking us all to Miss Sasaki's closed space. From there, it should be much easier for Miss Suoh to break into the closed space Miss Kimidori created. Is that correct?"

"Yeah, you pretty much nailed it," I said. "Does that sound plausible, Kuyoh?"

She lowered her head for a moment, then looked up at me. "A possibility."

Well, that's better than nothing. We'd seen two separate closed spaces start to overlap back when Fujiwara tried to kill Haruhi, so they had to be pretty "close" to one another, right? I think I'm actually starting to understand some of this stuff. I don't know whether that should make me happy or upset.

"Let's hurry," Miss Asahina said, still staring at the distortion in the distance. "It's getting bigger."

Pushing a few middle school-level jokes to the back of my mind, I nodded. "Miss Tachibana, if there was ever a chance for you to earn my trust, this is it."

Her eyes darted from me to the growing distortion to Koizumi. "I don't know if I can carry this many people, though," she said. "Koizumi, would you..."

He smiled. "I'd be happy to lend you my power."

The rest of us stood back and watched as Koizumi placed a hand on Tachibana's shoulder. I'd only heard of espers lending their power to each other once before: in that closed space with Haruhi, it had taken several of them working together just to allow Koizumi to show up in an incomplete form. That had been a different situation entirely, though. In that case, Haruhi had started creating an entirely new world.

Oh god, I hope that's not what Kimidori's trying to do.

After a few tense minutes, Tachibana opened her eyes. "I'm ready," she said, extending her hands. "Everyone, form a chain."

We all began to link hands, not unlike the time she'd first shown me Sasaki's closed space. Back then, the others had said we'd been sitting at the table the entire time. Does that mean our bodies are still going to be here while we look for Kimidori? And if so, can I change places? If the access point expands and rips our bodies apart, I don't want to die holding Koizumi's hand.

"Not this time," she said. "We'll be fully entering closed space. Everyone hold on tight."

The way she said that made me expect some kind of turbulence, or at least a little jolt, but the world simply faded to sepia without much fanfare. I had to squint for a moment, until my eyes adjusted to the brightness. If Haruhi's closed space was an endless night, Sasaki's had to be never-ending daytime.

Haruhi immediately let go and started examining the world around us. "I can't believe it. Now I'm officially a time traveler _and_ a slider! This is so cool!"

Those are pretty loose definitions you're using there.

"It's safe to let go now," Tachibana said. "This world is really stable. Not a Celestial in sight."

"Ease up on the sales pitch," I said, letting go of Koizumi's hand. Other than the discoloration, Sasaki's version of the island was essentially the same. The mansion was still there, and the ocean was as vast as ever, though its surface was smooth and unmoving. To be honest, it was a little creepy.

"This is a little embarrassing," Sasaki said. "I feel exposed with all of you in here. It's like an extension of my mind, isn't it?"

At least yours is somewhat normal. If we're comparing you to Haruhi, hers are a lot more dangerous.

Kuyoh stood perfectly still. "Initiating data transposition."

I've started to get used to it, but there's still something unnerving about the way she doesn't seem to breathe. When she's not moving a muscle, Kuyoh looks like someone hit the pause button on her remote. Maybe if the alien interface thing doesn't work out, she can pursue a career in horror films.

The sepia world began to change again, sepia tones mixing with the dark colors of the regular world. Within seconds, we were back in reality, if that's even the right word to use. "Hey, what's going on?" I asked. "Why are we back in our world?"

"We are not."

Huh?

"This is the space Emiri Kimidori has created. It is what you would call a closed space."

Seriously? It looks so... normal. I've never seen one that's indistinguishable from reality.

"Well, Miss Kimidori has full control over her powers," Koizumi said. "Since she's conscious of what she's doing, I'd imagine she can also control what her closed space looks like. But why would she want an exact mirror of our world?"

That's a good question, but it's not the important one right now. If this is Kimidori's closed space, then where is she?

Kuyoh raised a hand and pointed at the mansion. "Inside."

Kimidori, what's going through your head? You leave the mansion, then turn around and create one of your own? What's the point? And why leave our reality in the first place? Is it because you thought you'd be safe here? Or is that just my own arrogance talking? And, why am I asking myself these questions, again?

I looked over at Haruhi, wondering if she was going to make the first move, but now that we were here, her fear was starting to show. Figures. Even when she'd finally woken up in a strange, interesting world, she'd still been the one holding on to my sleeve.

I took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "Alright, let's go."

* * *

There's a certain tension that arises from holding contradictory feelings. For instance, it's easy to _say_ you're going to leave a love confession in someone's shoe locker, and you can probably even write the note and seal it up without too much hesitation. The hard part is when it's halfway in the slot, and you still have a chance to back out. That's the moment you have to make your decision. Will you let go, or will you pull it back out and tear it up?

I've never been in that particular situation, but as I reached for the handle to open the front door, I'd imagine the tension I felt was comparable. Only, in my case, backing out could very well result in the destruction of all of time and space.

That's okay, though. I can't get motivated without some sort of deadline.

Before I had a chance to talk myself out of it, I tightened my grip and opened the door. When I wasn't immediately disintegrated by Kimidori, I stepped inside.

The mansion's interior had been completely hollowed out. It was as if we were in a video game, and had somehow glitched our way into a building that wasn't meant to be entered. The entire mansion was one enormous room, illuminated by some unseen light source.

About twenty meters away, I spotted Kimidori. Or should I say, Kimidoris. There were four of her standing in a semicircle, with a fifth one materializing out of thin air. Only after Haruhi shouted "There she is!" did she notice we were there.

"Oh! You were able to follow me?"

Great. I guess this bubble stops working if we actively try to get her attention. Or maybe she just saw the door open. Either way, we'll be relying on Kuyoh to protect us from this point on.

The five of them turned to face us. "Ah, I see. It seems I wasn't as thorough as I should have been. Congratulations on managing to travel back in time."

For all the confidence I'd had earlier, I couldn't get my voice to work. Fortunately, Haruhi wasn't nearly as conscious of the danger we were in.

"Give Yuki back!" she demanded. "And my powers while you're at it, or there'll be hell to pay."

I wanted to lecture Haruhi about how she shouldn't threaten dangerous enemies like that, but I'd done the same thing last December. Besides, I'd known her for over a year now. It would have been stupid not to expect her to do something like this.

"I'm afraid this is Miss Nagato's punishment," Kimidori said, looking down at the floor. "It's not up to me. I merely do what my superiors tell me to do."

As much as I hated her, she really did seem to regret what had happened. She wasn't evil. She was just a coward, afraid to rebel against the Data Integration Thought Entity even though she knew what she was doing was wrong. Maybe that still counts as evil, but she still had time to redeem herself.

"Waah! It's shrinking!"

My eyes darted to Miss Asahina, then to the bubble, which had started to contract around us. Crap! Kuyoh, what are you doing?!

"Mobility."

As it shrunk, the bubble started splitting up into several smaller, individual bubbles. Soon, each of us had our own personal barrier, which then condensed even further to conform to the shapes of our bodies. In a span of about thirty seconds, Kuyoh's barrier had transformed into mere glowing outlines around our bodies.

"She will not be able to manipulate our data," Kuyoh said.

Kimidori and her copies began to approach us. "But how will you complete the transfer like that?" she asked. "You can't make direct contact unless you expose yourself, you know."

I see. So it's a stalemate. And in this case, a stalemate means Kimidori wins by default. I hope Kuyoh has a plan for this.

The Kimidori in the center raised her arms up, creating two metal spears in the air above her. She didn't appear to have to mold them out of existing objects like Asakura and Nagato had; they simply materialized out of thin air.

"The ability to create data cannot be replicated without causing massive damage to spacetime," Kuyoh said. "Attempting to do so would be dangerous. Only the original possesses it."

So then the Kimidori in the center was the only one who could create "new" data. The others were just ordinary interfaces, though I wouldn't say that makes them any less of a threat. Any chance these barriers can stop those things?

"You really shouldn't have come here," Kimidori said. "Entering this testing space is being interpreted as an act of hostility. I won't be able to convince my superiors that you don't pose a threat for much longer. For now, I only have permission to defend myself, so I ask that the rest of you please stay back."

Hold on. Am I really supposed to believe she's been defending us this whole time? That's just too convenient an excuse.

Kuyoh readied herself, apparently undeterred by the spikes. I'd known from the very beginning that there wasn't much hope of a peaceful resolution, but things had steered toward violence a bit earlier than I'd expected. Now it was just a matter of who would make the first move.

Kimidori moved her wrists ever so slightly, and the spears shot forward faster than my eye could follow. Kuyoh vanished just as quickly, and the spears dug into the wall behind us.

Okay, time to get somewhere safe.

I turned back to the others. "Let's put some distance between us," I said. "We need to stay out of the way, or we'll get caught in the crossfire." Not that I'm running away, mind you. This fight is just best left to Kuyoh. If the rest of us tried to butt in, we'd get torn apart in seconds.

"No, I'm going to help," Koizumi said, creating an orb of orange light in his palm.

Tachibana did the same. "Me too. We may not be able to do much, but we can at least serve as a distraction for a while."

A thunderous boom echoed throughout the building, and I looked up to see Kuyoh and one of the Kimidoris clashing in the center of the room.

"Okay," I said, "just be careful."

As they charged forward, I turned toward the door. Only, there wasn't a door anymore. I probably should have expected Kimidori to pull something like that. Now what do we do?

"Let's get out of the entryway, for starters," Fujiwara said. "We don't have much room to move around here."

Even if that was a valid point, there's no way I could acknowledge it, coming from you.

A pair of simultaneous explosions went off as Koizumi and Tachibana launched their attacks at the outermost Kimidoris. The ground actually shook from the intensity of the strike. Back when he'd fought the camel cricket, Koizumi had said he was only at ten percent of his power. What was he at now? This isn't Haruhi's closed space, but maybe they all work the same. If he made an explosion like that using only a fraction of his true strength, he might be scarier than I thought.

While the Kimidoris were busy, the girls and I headed for a more distant and open area, where it would be easier to avoid the occasional stray blast. Fujiwara came, too, but I refuse to count him as part of our group. Speaking of which, why isn't anyone sticking around to protect the no-powers club?

"They're amazing," Sasaki said. She and Haruhi were both watching, wide-eyed, as our group's three most powerful representatives fought against five copies of Kimidori. At least, I think that's what was happening behind the screen of smoke and debris. Blasts of energy continued to slam into the ground, and I'm pretty sure I saw a Koizumi-sized orb zip through the air at one point. It was complete chaos.

It didn't last long, though. When the espers took a moment to rest and the smoke began to clear, I saw the silhouettes of two Kimidoris reconstructing their bodies. Then, to our horror, an additional three started cropping up next to them. How many copies can she make? Is there even a limit?

Koizumi and Tachibana retreated next to us. "It's no good," he said. "No matter what we do, she's just going to keep rebuilding them."

There were now eight Kimidoris total. They stood in pairs, back to back, waiting for Kuyoh to reappear. With Koizumi and Tachibana still catching their breath, it was effectively eight versus one. I wondered for a moment if she would try to attack the espers while they were tired, but she didn't seem interested. Maybe she was limited to defending herself after all.

Either Kuyoh was powerful enough to hold her own against multiple interfaces, or Kimidori wasn't taking this fight seriously.

With a sharp crack, Kuyoh reappeared next to one of the Kimidoris and reached out to grab her arm. It all happened fairly quickly, but I could see that Kuyoh's forearm was no longer protected by the faint glow of the barrier. The way she was positioned reminded me of that time in the cafe, when Kimidori had been our waitress. Kuyoh had grabbed her arm without explanation, and it had taken a lot of convincing to get her to let go. Was it some sort of preemptive muscle memory?

Either way, it didn't matter. Kimidori jerked back in the nick of time, and just like that, Kuyoh's forearm was gone.

She vanished again and reappeared a bit closer to us, blood gushing from what was left of her arm.

Sasaki went pale. "Kuyoh! Are you okay?"

"I am fine. Stay back."

The barrier's glow spread down from her stump of an arm, recreating the shape of her missing appendage. Once it was back in place, a new arm formed inside, good as new. What troubled me was that had only taken a split second of exposure for Kuyoh's arm to be erased. What happens she loses her focus, and our barriers fail?

Kuyoh turned back to face us. "In order for transfer to occur, physical contact between Emiri Kimidori and the new host is required."

Yeah, we already know that. That's what you're supposed to be doing right now.

"Contact is required between the hosts. However, I can initiate the process from a distance."

It took me a second to realize what she was trying to say. In order for her to transfer Haruhi's powers to another person, that person has to be touching Kimidori, but that doesn't necessarily mean it has to be Kuyoh. If Koizumi or Tachibana can get close enough to touch her, Kuyoh can trigger the transfer. That's probably helpful to them, but it doesn't really make a difference to us normal humans. Besides, I'm pretty sure Kuyoh's the only one who can tell which Kimidori has Haruhi's powers.

The only person who didn't look surprised was Fujiwara.

"It's useless, no matter what you do," one of the Kimidoris said. "I won't allow that to happen."

In the time we'd been talking, she had created several more copies. It was slowly turning into an army. We were already outnumbered, not to mention outclassed, but this was just getting ridiculous. If she had actually been trying to kill us, we'd have long since been dead.

It was clear that this was a fight we couldn't win.

Kuyoh, Tachibana, and Koizumi rushed forward once again, launching another, more desperate round of attacks.

"Come on, Koizumi!" Haruhi shouted. "Give her hell! Show her what happens when you mess with the SOS Brigade!"

Despite her cheers, the two espers were quickly overwhelmed by the growing interface army and sent flying back to our side. Kuyoh continued to avoid the barrage of projectiles, but even she was starting to look desperate.

Then, as she passed near the entrance, the two spears that had originally fired into the wall pulled free and shot toward her. She narrowly avoided being skewered, and with a quick spin, actually managed to redirect the spears toward one of the Kimidoris. It was a nice move, but still ended up being too slow, and Kimidori vaporized the spears before they made contact.

"That's the real one."

Huh? Fujiwara? What are you—

Without warning, Fujiwara bolted past me, heading straight for the same Kimidori that Kuyoh had just targeted. Was he...?

No. _Hell_ no.

I charged after him. It wasn't that I thought he could make it to Kimidori and actually touch her—she could probably kill him six times before he even got halfway—but I didn't want to take that chance. I dove, grabbing his leg and bringing him crashing to the ground in front of me.

"Get off me," he spat, kicking at me with his other foot. It was all I could do to duck my head down and hold on with all my strength. If he thinks I'd just sit there and watch while he tries to take Haruhi's power for himself, he's got another thing coming.

Well, I say that, but his kicks were really starting to hurt.

"Stop! Stop it!"

As unmanly as it was, I was glad Haruhi was coming to my rescue. I didn't dare look up to see what she was doing to Fujiwara, lest I take a kick to the face, but it sounded pretty brutal. Eventually, he stopped kicking.

I felt her hand on my shoulder. "Kyon, are you okay?"

I cautiously lifted my head. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You really are an idiot," she said, helping me up. "Did you actually think she wouldn't notice him?"

Of course I didn't, but still... Oh man, I don't know what's worse: Fujiwara's physical beating, or Haruhi's mental one.

Steadying myself, I stole a glance back at him. There was blood, but not too much, and he still appeared to be at least semi-conscious. Haruhi could really do some damage when she wanted to.

Koizumi put his hands on our shoulders. "I think the two of you need to get back."

He drew my attention back to the fight taking place across the room. Kuyoh was still battling it out with a number of Kimidoris, but one of them had broken away from the others, and was staring at us with a look of regret.

"You really shouldn't have come back here," she said. "It's been determined that you all pose more of a threat to us than we originally estimated. I'm really sorry."

Kimidori, what are you saying? You were the one telling us to stay back earlier. Why are you talking like you're about to—

She swung her arms down, transforming them into the same blades of light Asakura had used against Nagato. No. No, no, no. It was happening all over again. That battle in the classroom had been my first real brush with death, so can you blame me for developing a fear response?

Koizumi and Tachibana prepared their attacks, but it wouldn't do any good. If Kimidori had gotten the order to eliminate us, there was nothing we could do. Kuyoh was having enough trouble as it was, and her opponent hadn't even been going for the kill. Our best option would be to run for it and hope Kuyoh would be able to get us out of here in one piece.

That said, it would take a lot longer to get her attention than it would for Kimidori to tear us to shreds.

"Please, don't hold this against me," she said, raising her arms. "I really did try to help you, honestly."

If she'd been aiming at me, I might have been able to do something. Duck, jump to the side, anything like that. If she'd been aiming at me, I wouldn't have done something so stupid.

But she was aiming at Haruhi.

I didn't get a chance to think. As Kimidori's blade shot forward, I slammed myself into Haruhi with all my strength.

* * *

I think I actually lost consciousness for a second. The only reason I say this is because I can distinctly remember being jolted back to reality by the sound of Haruhi screaming beside me.

I was in pain. A lot of pain. But at the same time, a warm numbness was spreading throughout my body. As much as I dreaded what I would probably see, I forced myself to open my eyes.

I was being held up by Kimidori's glowing blades, which had torn through most of my torso. That's probably why it hurt so much. At least, it did at first. Within a few seconds, I lost all feeling entirely. I tried to breathe, but my body wasn't responding anymore. I couldn't even move my arms.

Haruhi, shut up. Stop screaming. You too, Miss Asahina. You're both way too loud.

The light faded, and I felt myself fall to the floor. There was so much blood, more than I can remember seeing in my life. Then again, last time something like this happened, I'd ended up lying face-up, so I didn't really see how bad it had been.

Dammit. I really, really don't want to die. I've come close on more than one occasion, but Nagato wasn't here to save me this time. I wanted to roll over. Maybe if I was looking up, I'd see her standing over me, and she'd heal me up again.

My vision was already starting to fade. I guess this is really it, then. Haruhi, I'm sorry. I hope I at least managed to buy you a little more time.

...So why am I not dead yet?

My whole body is numb, but I'm still aware of my surroundings. Actually, I think I'm getting a bit more conscious of them. Haruhi's saying something. Kimidori, too. Everybody's so loud. Just shut up.

"Wh-... What? Kyon!"

"I said stop being so loud."

It's weird. For a guy who just lost most of his lungs, I feel okay. Actually, I feel great. I feel...

"I don't understand," Kimidori said. "How could you... I don't believe it. You were able to use something like that?"

My body was stiff, but I finally managed to draw in a ragged breath. Nagato, did you really come to save me?

I rolled over and sat up. There was a large hole in my shirt, but my chest had completely healed. If someone knows what's going on, please, explain it to me.

"Your barrier was penetrated," Kuyoh said. "The transfer is complete."

Transfer? You mean—

"Kyon, look out!"

I turned in time to see a green blur rocketing toward me. It was all I could do to brace myself before Kimidori's fist slammed into my gut.

The next few seconds were a confusing mess of rapid spinning and blunt force trauma. I was sent flying through the air by the force of the blow, and I'm pretty sure I crashed into something hard along the way. It wasn't until I came to a stop and felt the grass on my cheek that I realized I'd been sent straight through the mansion wall.

But I wasn't in pain. In fact, I felt more healthy than ever. In the past minute or so, I'd taken several hits that should have each qualified as an instant-kill attack. Had I become invulnerable? As I opened my eyes, I saw that the dim glow still surrounded my body. Kuyoh's barrier. Maybe it could protect me from physical damage after all.

I got to my feet and took in my surroundings. I'd ended up all the way at the bottom of the island, a few meters away from the shore. Had I seriously fallen all the way down that cliff?

Someone was shouting at me. It was hard to tell in the dark, but I could make out the silhouette of a figure running down the path toward me. After a few seconds, I realized it was Haruhi. But what was she screaming?

And more importantly, what exactly had just happened? Kuyoh had said the transfer was complete. Had she finally managed to make direct contact with Kimidori? She'd also said my barrier had been penetrated, but what did that have to do with it?

...no. She couldn't possibly mean...

_Crack._

Up in the sky, directly overhead, a new star had been born. At least, that's what it looked like. Then another, and another, until I realized what was happening. Now that Kimidori doesn't have Haruhi's powers anymore, I guess her closed space is going to break down.

Haruhi shouted again, this time a bit closer, but I still couldn't make out what she was saying.

Bright red cracks spread across the sky. I'd already seen it happen once before, but it was still an amazing spectacle to watch closed space start to crumble.

Haruhi's voice reached me again, this time clear enough to tell what she was saying.

_"Get away from the pier!"_

Huh?

Unfortunately, it took me an instant too long to realize what Haruhi meant. As soon as Kimidori's closed space disintegrated, I felt my body being jerked backward, and for the second time that day, my vision went black.

* * *

Ah, right. The access point.

I guess while we were busy in Kimidori's closed space, it had been growing into a full-fledged rip in the time plane. Great. So where am I? It feels the same as it does every time I travel via TPDD, but this time, there's no set destination. Am I drifting? I wonder where I'll end up.

Wait, what am I saying? If I have Haruhi's powers, I should be able to end up wherever I want, shouldn't I? Kuyoh, you should have given me some kind of instruction manual.

As I thought this, my hearing returned. My eyes and inner ear told me I was still lost in the void, but all around me, I could hear voices. Bits of conversations, some in Japanese, but most in languages I didn't understand. As the number of voices increased, they grew into a dull roar.

All I could think was that I needed to find Haruhi.

With a little willpower, I felt myself moving through the void. Not moving in the traditional sense, mind you. It's hard to explain movement in a place where words like "forward" and "backward" don't really apply. It was sort of like swimming, but with more dimensions.

Searching for Haruhi was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I couldn't even pick out individual voices from the crowd anymore, let alone recognize which one was hers. What's worse, I was starting to get timesick, and I really didn't want to find out what would happen if I threw up in this place. Haruhi, you've never been one to fade into the crowd. That's not the brigade leader I know. You do whatever you can to make yourself known, especially when I don't really want you to, but I'm starting to think I'm okay with that. Go ahead and stand out. Anything. Just give me some kind of hint as to how I can find you.

_"I am right here."_

Her voice was clear, and quite frankly, uncomfortably loud. And it was close. As I hurried toward the source of the sound, the other voices began to vanish.

Then, I hit something.

I know it doesn't make sense. I was alone in the endless void of time and space, but I swear, I hit something. Well, it's more like I tripped over a speed bump. Whatever it was, it made me lose control, and I started tumbling wildly through the time stream. Then, a blinding burst of light hit my eyes, and my sense of equilibrium returned. Unfortunately, the first thing it told me was that I was upside down somewhere in the air.

I slammed into something metal and fell a couple of feet to the ground. It seems like over the past twenty-four hours, I've spent a lot of time crashing into and through things. At least I hadn't been higher up. Although, with my body like this, I probably wouldn't have gotten hurt anyway.

I was in an alley. Not the same one we'd left from earlier, but a smaller one. The bigger question was, _when_ was I? The metal thing that had stopped my momentum turned out to be a typical modern-day dumpster, so I couldn't be too far off from my time.

After getting up and brushing myself off, I stepped out of the alley. The street signs were in Japanese, so that was a good sign, no pun intended. Maybe I was closer to home than I thought. The sun was high in the sky, so it had to be somewhere around noon. Now I just need to find out what day it is. I can't exactly go up to a random stranger and ask for the year, though. If I _am_ in my own time, that wouldn't do my reputation any favors.

Oh well. I've been in this situation more often than I'd like to admit, so I already knew what to do. When in doubt, just find a newspaper. There was a convenience store down the road, so I decided to start there.

The girl behind the counter looked up at me as I entered. "Good afternoon," she said.

"Morning. Hey, I don't suppose you have the time?"

She checked her watch. "It's about a quarter to one."

"Ah, thanks." I reached for a newspaper and scanned the front page. As I read the date, I had to resist the urge to laugh at myself.

Of course. When else would it be?

Four years ago. It wasn't Tanabata this time, though. It was April 1st, the first day of the school year, 1997. Right now, Haruhi still had her powers, and she was just starting seventh grade. By summer, she'll have solidified her reputation as a class-A weirdo. Why did I end up here, though? I'd followed Haruhi's voice, but she wasn't anywhere in sight, and we still had several months to go before the "I am right here" incident would actually occur. It didn't add up.

At any rate, I needed to get back to my time. I'd been dragged into the time rip, and Haruhi hadn't been too far away. I'll probably have to save her as soon as I get back. How does this work, though? Maybe I just have to...

Wait. If I try it here, I could end up making tomorrow's headlines. 'Man Vanishes While Reading Newspaper,' or something like that. I'd better find a secluded place before I try anything.

A few minutes later, I was back in the alley, facing the dumpster. I took a deep breath. "Okay, listen up," I said to no one in particular. "You'll obey me, got it? None of this 'subconscious' stuff. I only want my conscious decisions to have an effect, so don't try anything funny."

If anyone was watching me, they'd think I was crazy. Hell, at this point, I probably was. I had no way of knowing whether or not I could control this power by making demands like that, but it was worth a shot. If I went back without being able to properly control it, I'd just end up making things worse like Haruhi always does.

I raised a hand up toward the dumpster, and to my surprise, it shuddered slightly. As I lifted the hand further, it began to rise up from the ground. It was actually working. The kid inside me was squealing with glee. It was just like something out of one of those shows I used to watch. I snapped my fingers, and the dumpster's color shifted from a dull gray to neon green.

In the next instant, I was standing atop a particular collection of rectangular stones known as the Great Pyramid of Giza. It was still dark, but the sun was just beginning to rise on the horizon. It's not like I'd always wanted to see the pyramids or anything, it was just the first faraway place I could think of. Now that I was here, though, I realized what an incredible sight it was.

Alright, I think I'm getting the hang of this. Now to get back to the future and set things right. July 17th, right? Did I even need to specify the date, or could I just—

I blinked, and I found myself standing on the cliff overlooking Mr. Keiichi's pier. It was where Haruhi and I had braved the storm to see if his boat was still there, back when we thought Mr. Yutaka had killed him. Below, the time rip had already destroyed most of the pier, and was currently consuming all the water that flowed into it. I wonder where it'll all end up.

Haruhi suddenly appeared, running down the hill below. I saw my past self appear as well for a brief moment before being sucked into the vortex. Poor guy. Don't worry, though, you won't be gone long. And when you come back, you'll be an omnipotent god.

Well, sort of.

I extended a hand toward the vortex and closed my fist. Immediately, the rip vanished, leaving only a brief crackle of electricity as proof that it ever existed. Then I turned back toward the mansion, where the sounds of combat were still going strong. Maybe Kuyoh had gotten a second wind?

"Come back! _Come back!_"

I flinched. Haruhi's pained scream was loud enough to reach my ears, even from this distance. Or maybe my ears were just getting better now that I was all-powerful. Either way, I'd better hurry up and let her know I'm still alive. First and foremost, though, I had to settle things with Kimidori.

Once I was back inside the mansion, I was surprised to see that the fight was now one-on-one. Even more surprising was the fact that the walls had returned; everyone was now gathered in the main foyer, rather than one massive room. Wait, does that mean our past selves are here, too?

Kimidori and Kuyoh weren't moving, but a barrage of projectiles from both sides was clashing between them. To my relief, it looked like no one else had been hurt. Their barriers were gone, too, but I guess they'd only really been necessary to prevent Kimidori from using her godlike powers on them.

This was my chance. Kimidori hadn't noticed me yet, and she didn't appear to have raised any defenses against the kind of power I was now wielding. I could get rid of her and every other interface right now, and never have to worry about the Data Integrated Thought Entity again. Then I would be able to bring Nagato back without worrying about her being deleted.

So why was I hesitating?

Sure, Kimidori was probably just following orders, and she might have even argued in our defense, but that didn't change the fact that she'd personally terminated Nagato's data link. She was the one who hunted us down and killed her, and taken Miss Asahina's TPDD. And then, she'd set her sights on Haruhi. Any one of those would have been completely unforgivable, but put together? Fujiwara didn't even come close.

But Nagato had hesitated. She'd actually looked sad when I talked about erasing the Data Integration Thought Entity from existence. Maybe it was easier for her back in December, when she also removed her memories of her past life, but I couldn't ignore the fact that Nagato didn't seem too eager to orphan herself.

What alternative did I have, though? We were being threatened. And if I didn't do something soon, we might never have another opportunity. Kimidori alone was dangerous enough, but there were hundreds, maybe even thousands of other interfaces just like her. Interfaces like Asakura, who could kill normal humans like me without breaking a sweat. We had no other _choice_ but to get rid of them before they got rid of us.

In that moment, something clicked. And I won't lie, as soon as I realized it, I felt like an idiot. All those things I was worried about—being wiped out without warning, never knowing when we might have to defend ourselves—those were things the Data Integration Thought Entity must have been worried about ever since I made that stupid threat last December. To them, it was a matter of kill or be killed. I couldn't blame them for taking action. Here I was with the tables turned, and I was about to do the exact same thing. How hypocritical can you get? This whole time, everything they'd done could be considered self defense. Sure, they wanted to learn from Haruhi's powers, but more than anything, they wanted to get them out of the hands of the guy who was threatening their very existence. A guy who, on his own, was no more dangerous than any other human.

I still can't forgive them, but I'm at least starting to understand them. And I think I just came up with a solution that will allow everyone to walk out of this alive.

As soon as I made my decision, their attacks died out.

Kuyoh and Kimidori looked around for a moment, apparently confused. When they finally noticed me, it was already over.

Miss Asahina wasted no time in running over to me. "Kyon, you're okay! I thought... I was sure that you..."

"What did you do?" Kimidori asked, eyes wide in shock. "I can't... What have you done? And why do I..."

"Let's just call it a compromise," I said. It was honestly something I should have thought of a long time ago. I'm sure when Haruhi hears about it, she'll tell me she'd had the same idea all along.

"What the hell?"

My ears twitched. That voice. It was familiar, yet strangely alien. Not alien in the Nagato sense, but alien in the sense that it really shouldn't have been coming from that far away. When I found its source, I realized why.

Standing in the doorway was the past version of myself, along with his own Haruhi, Koizumi, and Miss Asahina.

* * *

**A/N: Twist ending: It's a paradox, time falls apart, this was the last chapter.  
**

**Nah, but really, I hope you enjoyed chapter nine, and I promise to wrap everything up in the next chapter. If there's one thing I hate, it's dangling plot threads.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Well folks, this is it. Hopefully I'm able to wrap everything up to your satisfaction. Whether I do or don't, please don't hesitate to leave your final thoughts in a review. I may write another Haruhi fanfiction someday, possibly a continuation of this one, but I'd like to improve a bit before I tackle another monster like this. o_o**

**I hope you enjoy chapter ten.**

* * *

Of all the mistakes we could have made, this was probably the worst one possible. We hadn't met our future selves last night, when we'd been the ones taking refuge in Mr. Keiichi's mansion, so the fact that we were now staring across the room at our pajama-clad counterparts meant we'd created a paradox. I'm not sure what's going to happen next, but on the off chance the time plane is about to implode on itself, I'd like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologize.

Past Haruhi had a look of utter shock on her face. "Wha-... What's this?" she asked. "You guys see it too, right? I'm not going crazy? That's us standing there. But... how?"

Great. Judging from the way she's talking, the past version of me hasn't gotten around to having "the talk" with her yet. Lazy bum. Looking around, I saw that Koizumi and Miss Asahina were also unsure how to react to meeting their past selves. Haruhi, on the other hand, was probably coming up with all sorts of terrible ideas.

I felt a tug at my sleeve. "Kyon," Sasaki said. "Don't you think you should do something? If the transfer really worked, something like this should be easy for you, shouldn't it?"

Hey, that's a lot of pressure to throw on me like that. I'd been thrilled just to be able to make a dumpster float a few feet off the ground. Sure, it had been easy to travel through time once I got the hang of it, and closing the time rip had been a piece of cake, but I'm wouldn't know how to _begin_ to fix a time paradox. That'd be Miss Asahina's forte.

"But it's only a paradox because you don't remember anything like this happening, right?"

...Oh, I think I see where you're going with this. Way to make me feel stupid in one sentence, Sasaki. I guess that should work, shouldn't it? It may not be a particularly elegant solution, but as long as it keeps time from falling apart, I really couldn't care less about elegance.

"Excuse me," Past Koizumi said, "but would you mind explaining what's going on here? Have you come back to give us a warning of some sort?"

I stepped forward. "Nope. Actually, this is all sort of a mistake, but you don't have to worry about that. Just focus on getting Nagato back, and eventually you'll get to this point, too. It'll all work out." I was going to have to erase their memories, of course, but maybe if I gave them some words of encouragement, it would somehow stick around in their subconsciousnesses and spur them—er, _us_—onward.

"That's right," Present Haruhi said. "The most important thing is to stay optimistic and never give up." She turned to her past self, whose face had lit up like she was staring into the tractor beam of the alien mothership. "Also, you should believe everything Kyon tells you. He may not look like it, but he actually knows what he's talking about, okay?"

My past self and I both scratched our cheeks at the indirect compliment.

With that, I waved my hand, and the four of them disappeared. Assuming I was using these powers correctly, they'd be frozen in the lounge, their memories reset to the way they were just before we appeared and started making a bunch of noise.

The logical thing to do would have been to get off the island before we had a chance to cause any more damage, but there was something far more important that I had to do first. It was the whole reason we'd set off on this 24-hour journey to begin with. The reason we'd risked our lives by coming back in time and attempting to battle a goddess.

Sorry, Kimidori. The SOS Brigade just doesn't work with four members.

A swirl of light particles began to collect in the center of the room. I couldn't tell you where they were coming from, only that they gathered into a brightly glowing vortex that slowly began to change shape. I'm not sure if it was actually necessary, or if it was just my mind's way of giving Nagato the brilliant comeback she deserved, but either way, it was pretty breathtaking.

Once the swirling light had molded itself into a vaguely humanoid shape, it tripled in intensity, forcing us to shield our eyes.

Then, it stopped.

I was still covering my eyes, but I knew she was there. She didn't say anything, and honestly, she didn't have to. I'd recognize her unique brand of silence anywhere.

"Welcome back, Nagato."

* * *

With our mission coming to a close, all that was left to do was tie up a few loose ends.

Our homemade TPDD had been the first thing to get dragged into the rift, but that was nothing my awesome powers couldn't fix. After restoring the pier to its former state, I summoned the TPDD back from the void and promptly destroyed it. Even if it was only half-functional, it could still be dangerous in the wrong hands.

I gave Miss Asahina her TPDD back, of course, and she gave me a very intense, very tearful hug. A day ago, I would have been beside myself with joy over something like that, but I've decided to be a bit more honest with myself from now on. Miss Asahina is cute, nobody's denying that, but I don't think it would work between us. And that's okay. I'd never admit it to Koizumi, but I think he was right about me using her as a romantic scapegoat.

Oh, by the way. Fujiwara? Turns out Haruhi broke his nose. Since it wasn't life-threatening, I just sent him back to his apartment. I did erase his memories of what he read on that chip, though, just in case it contained anything he could use against us. And in case you were wondering—which you honestly shouldn't be at this point—I didn't give him his TPDD back. If he wants to travel through time, he can grovel before the SOS Brigade and pray that Haruhi and Miss Asahina are feeling merciful.

As for the humanoid interfaces, they were no more. Kimidori, Kuyoh, and all the other TFEIs in existence were now, and forever would be, human. No more data manipulation powers to threaten us with, and they'd be free from having to follow the Data Integration Thought Entity's orders. I even took away _its_ ability to manipulate special data once Nagato told me it could survive without it.

And yes, that also means Nagato is now a human being.

I couldn't bring myself to change her personality, though. The Nagato I'd met last December had a certain charm, but it wouldn't have felt like Nagato if I'd just snapped my fingers and made her that way, you know? Besides, now that she _is_ human, she's free to grow and develop just like any other person. Maybe she'll become that shy bookworm on her own, and maybe she won't. That decision will be up to her.

Only after all of that was said and done was it finally time to leave the island.

"We really can't thank you enough," I said, bowing to Kuyoh. "If it hadn't been for you, I don't know what we would have done."

Haruhi, Koizumi, and Miss Asahina joined me as well. It felt odd to be so formal, but when you owe someone so much, what else is there to do?

When I straightened up, Nagato had moved to stand in front of Kuyoh. They were locked in eye contact, but this time, I wasn't feeling any animosity between them. That might just be because they're humans now, though.

After a few seconds, Nagato gave a slight nod of acknowledgement. "...thank you."

Kuyoh smiled. For once, it actually looked natural. "You're welcome."

After a few more goodbyes and thank yous, I sent Sasaki, Kuyoh, and Tachibana to the café. I felt a little bad for removing Kuyoh's abilities after everything she'd done for us, but for now, it's the best way to ensure that both sides can sleep soundly at night.

Then it was time to deal with Kimidori. I'll be honest, I wanted to get revenge. She'd tried to kill not just Nagato, but Haruhi and the rest of us as well. I don't care if she was just following orders, she still knows right from wrong.

But at the same time, if she hadn't taken action, the Data Integration Thought Entity would have just sent someone after her as well. Not that it comes anywhere close to excusing what she did, but I can't completely fault her for it.

When I turned to look at her, I was surprised to see that she was crying.

"I'm so... sorry," she said. "I just... I didn't have a choice. It's not that I wanted to, I..."

Stop. That's enough. I really don't want to have to pity you, so let's just end it there, okay?

She wiped her tears with her sleeve and nodded. "Okay."

* * *

"Hey, Kyon, gimme another refill!"

The five of us were back at Nagato's apartment, gathered around the kotatsu to share a pot of Miss Asahina's tea. It was supposed to be a welcome home party for Nagato, but aside from a few decorations and some cake—all courtesy of my powers, by the way—it was pretty much the same as any other brigade function.

I looked down at Haruhi's cup, which she was holding out to me for the third time. "Twice is probably enough. I really don't think I should be using these powers for parlor tricks anyway."

She put her cup down and frowned. "Speaking of which, when are you giving them back to me? I'm totally ready to assume my duties as supreme god of the Universe!"

Riiight. About that.

I exchanged glances with the others, doing my best to guilt them into saying something so I wouldn't have to. Just as I realized I might actually have the power to make them _do_ something like that, Koizumi spoke up.

"That's actually something we need to discuss," he said. "I'm sure you're aware by now that these powers can be dangerous. There are quite a few other happenings that we haven't had a chance to tell you about yet, but let's just say that we've had our hands full this past year. I hope you don't take it personally when I say that I'm concerned about what might happen once you're back in control."

Ouch. Don't you think that was a bit too direct, Koizumi?

She laughed. "Concerned? About what? Come on, guys. It's not like I'm going to suddenly take over or anything. That'd be totally boring, and I wouldn't have the patience for politics. I'd be happy just having, I don't know, a branch of the SOS Brigade in every school around the world."

Haruhi, you aren't really helping your case here.

She went on. "Besides, Kyon's aware of it, and he hasn't lost control or anything. Right? So what's the big deal?"

That's true, but we have completely different personalities. No offense, but it's pretty easy to avoid doing anything rash when I don't really have any major goals to begin with. You, on the other hand, have been declaring your desire to see the world become more exciting on a daily basis since the day we met. It's even baked into the SOS Brigade's name.

"Don't get me wrong," Koizumi said. "I'm not saying we shouldn't return your powers to you. But before we do, I think it would be for the best if we altered your memories so that you don't remember the truth about us, or the fact that you have them."

You could have heard a pin drop a mile away.

Haruhi's head was hanging low, and her hair was obscuring her face, but I could tell how upset she was getting. Her fists were both clenched, and her shoulders were starting to shake.

"Absolutely not," she said.

"Miss Suzumiya, I—"

She looked up. "I refuse! I can forgive you all for hiding this from me before, because you had to, but now that I'm in on it, I intend to stay that way. I don't care if _nobody_ has those powers. I don't want to forget everything that's happened!"

Over the past year, I'd seen a lot of expressions on Haruhi's face. There was the gung-ho grin she usually wore, the occasional look of melancholy, and countless, albeit less frequent, other emotions sprinkled in here and there. But the look she gave me when she said that... It was the look of an innocent girl trying to convince a judge that she'd been falsely accused. She didn't have any power in this situation other than her words, and I could tell she was desperately trying to plead her case. What's worse, she was looking at _me_. When did I become the judge? I don't want that responsibility.

I turned to Koizumi. "If she doesn't want to forget, then I won't force her," I said. "She has that right, and I'll stand by it."

I'd expected him to at least be a little surprised, but he looked like he'd known I was going to refuse all along. "I see. Well then, I guess that's no longer an option, is it? Perhaps you could simply eliminate your abilities entirely, without passing them on to someone else."

Maybe I could. That's probably the responsible thing to do. If I did that, all that would remain would be espers and time travelers. Espers aren't particularly dangerous as far as I know, and there's no way I could eliminate the danger of time travelers without also tampering with Miss Asahina's future. I guess even if she's biologically human, Nagato did come from space, so she's still technically an alien.

Aliens, time travelers, and espers. It was all Haruhi had ever wanted, but she'd never had the chance to enjoy it. All this time, I've been going on all sorts of crazy adventures, adventures she'd been looking for. I won't even lie anymore, it's been a blast. I wouldn't trade it for the world. And meanwhile, Haruhi's been desperately searching for any sign of the unknown. She's the one who's been moving forward, always trying to find something interesting, something fantastic, something truly out of this world. It wasn't fair. No, it would be downright selfish to ask her to go back to that. She deserved to have some adventures, too.

"Kyon..."

When had I started talking out loud?

"We _have_ had adventures. They may not have been supernatural—I mean, not that I know of, anyway—but they've still been fun, right? I don't regret a minute of this past year with you guys, so don't act like it was all a waste."

Let's not get too sappy, Haruhi.

She huffed. "Whatever. You always know how to ruin a moment. So what are we gonna do?"

I sighed. No matter how I looked at it, the right choice was obvious. "I've decided I'm going to keep these powers indefinitely."

Judging from the incredulous looks on their faces, I should probably elaborate.

"I'm confident enough in our abilities that I believe we can take on whatever challenges come our way. And frankly, I don't think my mind will be half as dangerous as Haruhi's."

"Hey! You can't just keep m—"

"You didn't let me finish," I said. "I'm going to keep these powers, but I'm going to forget about them. I was able to alter everyone else's memories, so I should be able to do the same with my own. I'll make it so I think I destroyed these powers for good, and that they no longer exist."

A few seconds of silence passed.

"...So you're going to be like Miss Suzumiya was?" Miss Asahina asked.

"That's right."

"But why?" Haruhi demanded. "What's the point of doing that? All you'd be doing is changing things back to the way they used to be, with our roles reversed."

I finished off the rest of my tea and set the cup down. "That's the point," I said. "It's so you can go on adventures with aliens, time travelers, and espers. And I'll be the one causing trouble for once. I'll finally have a chance to get revenge for all the trouble you've caused me over the past year."

I wouldn't forget everything, of course. I'd never do that. My memories would stay the same up until the point where I made this decision. I'd be like Haruhi used to be, unaware that my mood swings and nightmares could wreak havoc on the world. Who knows? Maybe my closed spaces will be completely different than anything we've seen before. Was it the safest move? No, not by a long shot. But the only reason I'd had the chance to have these incredible adventures was because, as Koizumi and the others so often put it, Haruhi chose me. I think it's about time I returned the favor.

After that, we spent some time ironing out the finer details. I made a rule that if there was ever an emergency, all they had to do was say a special pass phrase, and my memory would automatically restore itself. That would be our ace in the hole if anything ever went seriously wrong, or if Koizumi just needed a break from fighting celestials for a while. I think he really appreciated the gesture.

* * *

In the end, I decided to get rid of the powers once and for all.

We'd tossed around some other ideas, but I think this is really the best option. It's not even really a matter of whether or not Haruhi would be responsible with them, it's more about whether anyone really has the right to wield that kind of authority over the Universe.

Speaking of Haruhi, she was surprisingly mature about the whole thing. I'd expected her to get mad, maybe demand her powers back, but she didn't give any resistance at all. In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd say she was actually being a bit more pleasant than usual. Weird.

Once that was taken care of, we continued the celebrations into the early evening. The games from the night before were still lying around, and we ended up having a big free-for-all to decide who would get to be brigade leader for a day during our summer break. This time around, there was no ulterior motive behind everything. No impending alien threat, or celestials wreaking havoc in another world. For the first time in a long time, we could just laugh and have fun without worrying about reality going haywire.

"By the way," Koizumi said, "you never did tell us what happened after you got sucked into the rift. I'm rather curious."

I shrugged and drew a card. "I just sort of wandered through this void for a bit. Then I came tumbling out in the past. Actually, it felt like I tripped over something." Not that that made any sense.

Miss Asahina's curiosity was piqued, though. "Oh? What time did you end up in?"

"Oh, that's right," I said. "That part was actually kind of interesting. It was April 1st, four years ago."

Koizumi's eyebrows shot up, and Miss Asahina's face went pale. "That's... wh-what time was it? I mean, when exactly did you arrive?"

What time? Let's see... What had the clerk said at the convenience store? A quarter to one? It had taken a few minutes for me to get there, too. "I think I got there around 12:40 pm."

She dropped her cards and stared at me in shock. "No way! You mean you actually made it past the time fault?"

I did _what_ now?

Haruhi sighed. "Okay, now what are you guys talking about? A time fault?" She laughed. "What, is that what happens when there's a time_quake?_"

Actually, you hit the nail on the head. People in the future aren't too creative with their terminology. More importantly, Miss Asahina just said I made it past the time fault. But how? Every time traveler I've met so far has said it's impossible to go further back than the big, mysterious event four years ago.

Then again, Haruhi wasn't one to be deterred by the word "impossible"; maybe her powers were the same. What's more interesting is the fact that after I told Miss Asahina I'd ended up on April 1st, she'd asked for the specific time I'd arrived. That would imply that the timequake was due to happen on that exact day, sometime after 12:40.

"Come on, tell us more!" Haruhi said. "What was it like? Did you get sick? Did you make any changes? I bet you wrote down some winning lottery numbers for your past self, didn't you?"

"No, nothing like that. I just checked the date and then headed back to help you guys out."

"Interesting," Koizumi said. "When you saw what day it was, were you surprised? I'm curious as to what was going through your head."

You're the last person I want inside my head, Koizumi.

"Well, I _was_ curious as to why I showed up there, and not Tanabata like usual," I said. "If I had realized Haruhi didn't have her powers yet, I would have stopped by to watch it happen. Maybe we could have gained a little insight into what triggered it."

"So then you thought she had her powers already?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I guess I assumed so. I've never known her without them, so my image of Haruhi sort of goes hand in hand with being able to bend reality."

She gave me a dirty look, and I corrected myself. "Until now, of course. Anyway, what's up with the third degree? In case you forgot, we're in the middle of a game, and it's your turn."

He drew a card to appease me, but didn't even bother looking at it. "Sorry. It's just that I've been forming this theory, and it has some interesting implications."

"Really?" Haruhi asked. "Well, let's hear it."

He laid his cards down. "When Miss Suoh transferred the powers to you, Miss Kimidori was dumbfounded as to how such a thing was possible. I can't claim to understand it myself, but it seems transferring data through the blades she was using was supposed to be impossible. Is that right, Miss Nagato?"

No response, which usually meant no problems so far. Koizumi kept going.

"Miss Suoh was equally surprised that it had worked. So why did she try it? And more importantly, how is it that something which was supposed to be impossible can suddenly be pulled off without a hitch?"

There you go trying to bait us into asking again.

He smiled. "My theory is that Miss Kimidori was telling the truth when she said she didn't want to hurt us. She wanted to follow orders, but she didn't want anyone to get seriously hurt. If her conscious and her subconscious were at odds with one another, Miss Suzumiya's powers could have been triggered. It's might be that the one who made the impossible possible and gave us the opportunity we needed to win was none other than Miss Kimidori herself. Deep down, she wanted a peaceful resolution."

"Whoa! Koizumi, you're a genius!" Haruhi said. "That makes perfect sense! It really makes you feel bad for the villain, too. Maybe we should incorporate something like that into the next movie..."

Haruhi, you shouldn't decide whether or not you believe something based on whether or not you think it makes for a good story. And I still don't see what this has to do with my thoughts when I went back in time.

"My point is that even when you have conscious control over those powers, your subconscious may still be able to activate them. If that's the case, and you genuinely believed that Miss Suzumiya had the power to change reality, then your beliefs may have been transformed into fact. And if you remember, Miss Suoh did say that attempting to duplicate such powers could cause massive damage to spacetime. That's consistent with everything we know about what happened four years ago."

I... That's... No. Just no. It's an interesting theory, but there are too many problems with it for me to list. And I refuse to believe that I'm the one who elevated Haruhi to godlike status. That would mean everything we've been through this past year has been _my_ fault.

He raised his hands in defense. "Relax. Like I said, it's just a theory."

Maybe you should focus less on your theories and more on the game.

* * *

Haruhi ended up winning, which surprised no one. I'd been wondering if her powers had been the source of her luck, but I guess she's just naturally good at these sorts of things. Just once, I'd like to be the one kicking her butt for a change.

I was out on the balcony now, leaning against the edge and looking out at the city below. The sun was setting on the last day of our old life. When it rose again in the morning, Nagato would wake up as a human for the first time. It'll be interesting to see how this changes things.

"..."

The girl of the hour was standing next to me, staring straight ahead. You wouldn't be able to tell much of a difference just by looking at her; She had the same blank expression on her face, and spoke in the same monotone voice she'd had since we first met. But several times during our celebration, she'd shown signs of emotions. Smiles, laughs, excitement... They weren't all that noticeable, but they were definitely there.

"So Nagato, how does it feel to be human?" I asked. "Is it any different?"

She was still as slow and deliberate in her responses as ever, but as she spoke, a small smile appeared on her face. "It's good," she said. "Also... Thank you."

You don't have to thank me again. Hell, you really didn't need to thank me in the first place. After everything you've done for us, of course we're going to fight to get you back.

"Not just that."

Oh? Then what?

She looked up at me. "Thank you for relieving me of my duties. And of my ability to manipulate special data."

You're thanking me for making you a powerless human? Funny. Most people would kill to have the kind of power you had.

But then, Nagato had never seemed all that interested in her abilities. She'd even blocked herself off from being able to sync so she could have a little more autonomy. I should have realized she wanted to distance herself from her data manipulation powers a long time ago.

"No problem," I said. "But, you'll have to get used to being part of the no-powers club. It's not so great when the monsters start attacking."

The balcony door slid open, and Haruhi stepped out. "There you guys are. I was wondering where you ran off to."

Nagato turned and headed for the door. "I was just leaving," she said.

Crap! Nagato, what are you doing? You can't leave me alone with her! Did Koizumi put you up to this?

The door closed behind her, leaving me trapped on the balcony with Haruhi. I scratched my cheek. "Actually, I was just about to—"

"Not a chance. There are still some things we need to talk about."

Dammit. I'd been hoping she'd just forget about that "private talk" I'd promised her, but it looks like I've been overly optimistic.

She turned out toward the city, resting her chin on her palm. I slumped forward again, avoiding eye contact. This was going to be an uncomfortable conversation.

After a few seconds of awkward silence passed by, she spoke. "I still can't figure out why you didn't want me to find out. It doesn't make sense. What's so bad about me knowing that you saved my life?"

First off, nobody ever said I saved your life. We were caught by a celestial before we hit the ground, so it really wouldn't have mattered if I'd jumped after you or not. "It's just embarrassing, I guess."

"That's wrong and you know it," she snapped. "I talked to Koizumi. He said it was because you didn't want me to feel guilty."

Dammit! Leave it to a girl to ask a question she already knows the answer to. What a dirty trick. And Koizumi, you're lucky I already gave up my powers, or you'd get one heck of a punishment for betraying me like that.

"Don't blame him. You're the one who lied, now spit it out. Why did you jump after me like that?"

Hey, that's a completely different question!

Her voice grew softer. "And earlier, you pushed me out of the way. You let Kimidori stab you through the chest. It's not like you had any way of knowing you were going to survive, so why..."

Oh no. Her voice is starting to shake.

"Hey, it's not like I was really all that helpful," I said. "If you think about it, all I did was get in the way. If you'd been the one who got stabbed, Kimidori would have transferred the powers back to you instead of me. Wouldn't you have liked that better anyway?"

She turned toward me, practically yelling in my ear. "That's not the point! It's the thought that counts, and both times, you thought you were going to die. Do you have any idea how _stupid_ you are?!"

"Hey, I—"

As I turned toward her, she grabbed my shirt collar and pulled. For a second, I thought she was about to hit me, but...

Well, it's kind of embarrassing. I'm sure you can fill in the blanks.

A few seconds later, she let go, and I staggered backward. What was that? Did that really just happen? If this is a dream, my subconscious must be getting a good laugh out of tormenting me.

"...C-...Consider that a reward for all your hard work!" she said. "But you've still got a long way to go if you want that to become a regular occurrence, you hear?"

I stared at her for a moment before cracking a smile. "Understood."

Oh man. Koizumi's never going to let me hear the end of this.

* * *

**A/N: And there we have it. I hope you enjoyed this story. Thank you to everyone who read/reviewed it. As I said in the beginning, the number of points where I tie it into the main series is also a big hindrance, since it'll most likely be overwritten the moment Mr. Tanigawa releases a new light novel, but I think I'd be so thrilled with another Haruhi book that I wouldn't even care. xD**

**If you want to play around with the idea of Kyon being the unaware god instead of Haruhi, you're welcome to use this story as a setup. I'd honestly be flattered. I'll probably do the same at some point, but for now, I think my brain needs a rest. To everyone who writes stories as long as this or longer, you have my respect.**

**Thanks again for reading, and remember to keep an eye out for aliens, time travelers, and espers.**

**-Anony84**


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